Halloween is coming, and the perfect book to help you prepare is If I Had a Vampire Bat.”
Written by Gabby Dawnay, If I had a Vampire Bat is the next installment in the line of “If I Had a…” books. It is the spooky, rhyming saga of a little girl with a wild imagination who dreams of the fun she would have if only she had a vampire bat as a pet. She and her bat would sleep all day and play by the light of the moon. Their pointy teeth would give the dentist a fright, and they would make a point of marching past spooky graveyards or playing games at a creepy moonlit playground.
Artist Alex Barrow fills this book with eye-popping illustrations: everything from skeletons dancing to mummies glaring and ghosts playing cards. Readers will find it hard to distinguish which characters are the real spooks and which are the cleverly-disguised trick-or-treater’s on the prowl for some delicious Halloween candy.
One quibble: The part about vampires eat drinking blood. The section on the vampire bat’s meal reads:
“Vampire bats need lots of blood, so she would have to munch… a large amount for breakfast, then a jug or two for lunch!”
Yes, this reviewer realizes that vampires traditionally drink blood, but the thought of WHERE these quarts of blood come from in the first place is a bit off-putting. However, the book is so lively and playful, this brief section can be overlooked as the reader turns the pages for more fun, fun, fun.
Told in almost flawless rhyme and meter, this adorable little book offers loads of fun for Halloween night and the celebrations leading up to “trick or treat.” The prose is fast-paced and funny, and the illustrations are all a child could wish for on Halloween — complete with spooky graveyards, brooding shadows, moon-lit skies, and creepy characters. Enjoy!
A similar review appears on our sister site, Picture Book Depot: https://picturebookdepot .com/2022/if-i-had-a-vampire-bat/
