HOW NOT TO BE A VAMPIRE SLAYER

Vampire and vampire slayer meet and become good friends.

Initially, at least, 11-year-old Londoner Maggie Helsby has no idea why she’s immune to the terror spell that keeps local residents out of the woods abutting the wonky old house in a rural village that Mum and Dad inherited from Great-Uncle Bram. But this imperviousness allows her to meet Sharptooth Shadow, a resolutely vegetarian student at a hidden vampire training academy who is fascinated with all things human. The two immediately click, and soon Maggie is secretly introducing her fanged friend to classmates, inviting her to venture out of the woods for Halloween fun, expanding her beet-juice diet by introducing her to ketchup (“What is this magical food?”), and loaning her Roald Dahl novels. Of course, it’s only a matter of time before the grown-ups find out. In the wake of learning that she’s actually the latest in a long line of slayers—hence her immunity to vampiric spells—Maggie wages peace. She reaffirms an ancient treaty by standing between Sharptooth’s roused vampiric clan and a mob of townspeople whipped into a frenzy of fear by their clownishly corrupt mayor, who wants to level the woods and build a golf course. Birchall pulls off a happy ending, complete with a dance party and shows of mutual respect between neighbors with (rather) different lifestyles. The cast, undead and otherwise, reads white.

A “fang-tastic” twist on the theme of dangerous friends.