The Fangsful Family: Fangsgiving by Ethan Long

It was the fourth Thursday in November and the monsters gathered for their annual Thanksgiving visit.

Ghost has a well-aged wine from the crypt, and Mummy makes sauce fresh from the cranberry bog. Werewolf brings his special covered dish. Witches Virginia and Sandy cook up the sweet potatoes and stuffing.

Vladimir Vampire made the turkey. He knew how to cook it just right.

But just as the turkey is twirling on the spit, there's a macabre honk in the driveway.

"Uncle Gus!  Aunt Bessie!  Joey and Schmoey!"

It's the uninvited relatives who show up--just as dinner is about to be underway. And they've brought Frankie Stein along, no one's favorite surprise guest.

Aunt Bessie takes over the kitchen. She boo-boos the witches' side dishes and insists on making mashed potatoes with her special ingredients--eyeballs and earwax! (Hold the garlic!) Frankie Stein offers his lumpkin pie and maggot meatballs.

Uncle Gus cooked the turkey to death!

And they've brought their dog--Spike, who gobbles down most of Vlad's feast!

He never met anything he didn't want to swallow!

Dinner looks to be a disaster. Vlad is not up to hosting this monster mash!

"You... you... you... are ruining Thanksgiving!" he sputters.

"Vladdie, we're only trying to help!" said Auntie Bessie. "We're FAMILY!"

Vladimir realizes that Aunt Bessie has a point. It's time for a Thanksgiving re-set, in Ethan Long's third installment in his Fright Club series, Fangsgiving (Bloomsbury, 2018). In the best spirit of family harmony, the family raids the freezer and makes the best of a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Long's gray-toned illustrations satirize the monster types cleverly, and kids will giggle along with this non-traditional family, all left-overs from Halloween. “Long's graphite pencil and digitally colored illustrations are packed with gross-out details that will have kids in stitches.” quips Kirkus Reviews.

Share this one with Ethan Long's first book about the this monster gang, (review here).