Book Title: Dracula Spectacular (available here)
Author: Lucy Rowland
Illustrator: Ben Mantle
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: September 2019
Most Suitable For: KS1
Reviewed By: Kate Gieler, Teacher & School Librarian
I enjoyed reading Dracula Spectacular with my 8 year old daughter who says it’s about ‘not being afraid to show your true colours’ – to which I continued, ‘…because your true colours are beautiful’.
The youngest member of the Dracula family doesn’t want to conform to his parents’ ways of dressing or behaving; he doesn’t want to wear dark clothes and go around scaring people, he wants to be kind and celebrate life in bold, bright colours. So he does just that and shows his parents how to have fun by daring to follow his dreams.
It’s a thoughtfully written, colourful story about embracing difference and not just being who other people expect you to be. The rhyming verse is fun to read aloud and we both loved Ben Mantle’s charming illustrations which have lots of detail to look out for on every page. We particularly liked spotting the differences on the beginning and end double-page spreads.
This is certainly a spectacular book and although Halloween themed, with lots of pumpkins and spooky characters, it will appeal to children of different ages all year round.
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You can order Dracula Spectacular online or from your local bookshop or library.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to Review Panel member Kate for reviewing it.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.
