Vampires in Manhattan: Vampire Island by Adele Griffin

The Livyngtone family, transformed in medieval times into hybrid fruit-bat vampires by a roving purebred, have hoped to leave the evil Old World vamp scene behind when they emigrate to New York City. Giving up immortality and some of their powers for a quasi-normal life in the Big Apple, the now vegan and NYC-renamed Livingstone kids try to blend into the everyday life of school kids in the big city.

Lexington (nicknamed Lexi) hopes to tame her fangs with braces, loves to quote from the works of doomed poets, and longs to attract the exclusive attention of the cutest boy in eighth-grade, Dylan. Sixth-grader Madison (Maddy) has few special powers but is gifted with a restless and investigative mind. Nine-year-old Hudson, the handsomest boy in fourth grade, is the only Livingstone who retains his shape-shifting powers: by night he becomes a high-flying fruit bat and by day he works diligently to persuade his peers to recycle and save the planet.

When the ever inquisitve Maddy observes a pair of peculiar new neighbors moving in across the street, she suspects that they are purebred vampires, the sworn enemies of hybrids. Concocting a batch of faux Elf Scout white chocolate chip macadamia cookies containing holy water and garlic cloves and sends Hudson, in drag as a cutesy scout dressed her old uniform, over to sell them to the Van Krik's butler. When the cookies fail to do away with the vampire pair, Maddy is surprised to be invited over for tea with the toothsome two. Lexi and Hudson caution Maddy against taking on the purebred vamps alone, but when Maddy is adamant, big sister Lexi insists that she fortify herself with a plate of fruits and veggies and a big glass of water. Hudson plants himself nearby and urges to Maddy to echolocate him if she's feels endangered.

Once inside the gloomy Von Kirk mansion, however, Maddy realizes that she's been tricked into become a fruit flavored soft drink for the blood-thirsty purebreds. Luckily the water Lexi made Maddy drink was holy water left over from the ill-fated macadamia nut cookies, and Maddy survives the vamp attack by the, um, skin of her teeth and the content of her blood. The Von Kriks, however, expire from the imbibation of holy water and dissolve and vanish just as Hudson, alarmed by his inability to communicate with Maddy, flies to the rescue.

National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin's Vampire Island is sure to please the fang-tasy crowd with its humorous take on the Manhattan tweener scene with a vampire twist. Fans of Sienna Mercer's hilarious My Sister the Vampire books or Heather Brown's darker middle school series beginning with Eighth Grade Bites (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, Book 1) will appreciate this light-hearted take on the traditional vampire genre.