Summer Vamp by Violet Chan Karim
Four out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Graphic Novel
Maya loves cooking. Her dad just told her that his girlfriend is about to move in with them, but as a treat, they are sending her to summer culinary camp! She is thrilled! They bring her to the spot where she will board a school bus to go to camp, but she is too excited and forgets her bus number. She goes to the first bus she sees, and they welcome her, telling her to get on the bus. She soon learns that this bus is not going to culinary camp, it’s going to a regular camp… or so it seems. She is at first annoyed with her dad and his girlfriend. She thinks they tricked her just to get her out of the house so they can have the summer to themselves. But as she pays more attention to her fellow campers, she starts to notice some things that don’t seem right. They have pointy ears, sharp teeth, and they drink blood (out of juice boxes, which I thought was funny). They are vampires! Maya is rightfully scared at first, and she is trying to find a way to contact her dad. But she starts to get to know her new cabinmates, and they are not all that bad. However, there is still the fear that they will figure out she is not a vampire. What will they do if they find out she is human? It’s a cute story about finding new friends. I’m still a little sad that she didn’t get to attend culinary camp. I wanted to see what that would be like.
Literary Coffee 