VAMPURR

One of these cats is not like the others.

“On a crisp autumn evening, beneath the blood moon’s light, tucked among tombstones…six kittens were born.” One kitty stands out: She has black fur, green eyes, and long fangs, and every sunrise she lets out a yowl that commands the attention of Victor, a boy with light tan skin and, curiously, the swooped-back black hair of an Old Hollywood actor (more on this later). Victor decides to investigate the nearby graveyard and goes gaga for the cat, who has the power to fly and hypnotize; Victor names her Vampurr. After the cemetery’s groundskeeper announces that all the kittens need homes, every cat but Vampurr is adopted—for most people, special powers aren’t a huge selling point in a pet. But Victor isn’t like most people, made clear by visual clues—he wears a ball cap with a bat silhouette; also, remember his hair?—that offer hints leading up to a big reveal about him and his father. The everyone-has-someone-who-loves-them premise is awfully sweet, and Colón’s text works, although the puns are well worn (“fangtastic,” “purrfectly”). The book does double duty as a pet lover’s go-to and a Halloween mainstay: Wen’s wavy-edged, digitally colored pencil art conveys a gratifyingly unsettling mood with its palette dominated by indigo, magenta, and slime green.

A cute pet-adoption story laced with light chills.