Hampire!

K-Gr 3—While pandering a bit to our culture's obsession with vampires, this offering really hams it up. The farm animals sleep fitfully in the barn each night, petrified of the marauding Hampire. In the light of day, their fears are confirmed by gooey red droplets of evidence on the grass. The dramatic highlights and shadows of the painted illustrations increase the feeling of suspense when Duck decides one evening that he must have a midnight doughnut snack. His contorted facial expressions as he flees from the caped porker add a sense of urgency and believability. Readers will feel relief when they discover that the pig is not, in fact, trying to make a Duck-size snack, but desperate for a jelly doughnut. The menacing red evidence on the lawn isn't blood, but jelly filling. The creepy cadence of the rhyme scheme will take a few practice runs before sharing it in storytime. Fine is a master of painted porcine grins, assuring that fans of Margi Palatini's Piggie Pie! (Clarion, 1995) and Kelly DiPucchio's Bed Hogs (Hyperion, 2004) will not be disappointed. A deliciously macabre choice for a not-too-spooky classroom read-aloud.—Jenna Boles, Washington-Centerville Public Library, OH