Scream Street: Fang of the Vampire - Tommy Donbavand

Scream Street is a series of books for children, aged around 8-11. The series is written by Tommy Donbavand, a name it took me a long time to remember. There are 7 books in the series, all published by Walker:
-Fang of the Vampire (2008)
-Blood of the Witch (2008)
-Heart of the Mummy (2008)
-Flesh of the Zombie (2008)
-Skull of the Skeleton (2009)
-Claw of the Werewolf (2009)
-Invasion of the Normals (2009)
...Watsons have been moved to Scream Street, government housing for 'unusual' lifeforms. The Negatives have a son, Rhesus, and he soon introduces Luke to his other neighbours, including the tomboy mummy, Cleo Farr, the stunningly beautiful witch, Eefa Everwell who owns the local 'pharmacy', the evil Sir Otto Sneer, landlord of Scream Street, and his shape-changing nephew Dixon.

Luke settles in quickly and easily, finally he can be a normal ... more

Scream Street is a series of books for children, aged around 8-11. The series is written by Tommy Donbavand, a name it took me a long time to remember. There are 7 books in the series, all published by Walker:
-Fang of the Vampire (2008)
-Blood of the Witch (2008)
-Heart of the Mummy (2008)
-Flesh of the Zombie (2008)
-Skull of the Skeleton (2009)
-Claw of the Werewolf (2009)
-Invasion of the Normals (2009)

The children at school love the website (www.screamstreet.co.uk). It has short stories, news updates and so on. It's aimed at children and is very well managed, a nice safe site which is a relief for some parents.

** Why did I read the book?**

I wouldn't usually read books for children of this age group, but Tommy Donbavand came to the school I work in to do an afternoon's presentation, and then the following day I accompanied some year 5 students to a writing workshop held by Donbavand. The school bought a load of his books and I was given the task of selling them to the year 5s. The kids loved them, they are as big as Harry Potter in our school (and the collectors cards Donbavand cleverly puts in the back of each book don't hurt his cause!). I decided to try the series, I like to know what the kids are reading and to be able to talk to them about their interests.

**About the Author**

Tommy Donbavand is a British author, born and raised in Liverpool. Now he lives and writes in Northumberland. He has a website (www.tommydonbavand.com) with a live webcam so that his fans can watch him work, an idea I thought was a bit strange, but the kids were really impressed. He is a really nice guy, and is fantastic with kids which endeared him to me quite a bit.

**Plot**

Luke Watson appears to be a normal schoolboy, he runs around with the other boys, argues with his mum and dad, struggles with his lessons from time to time, and when angered turns into a werewolf. Well, okay, maybe he's not quite a normal lad...
After one incident where werewolf-Luke winds up chasing another boy across a cemetery, Luke and his family find their home invaded by faceless men in shellsuits, each with the inscription GHOUL, these men introduce themselves as Movers. Next thing the Watsons know, they are waking up in a strange house, their own possessions are there, but it's not their house.

The doorbell goes and the Watsons meet their neighbours, the Negatives, a family of vampires who explain that the Watsons have been moved to Scream Street, government housing for 'unusual' lifeforms. The Negatives have a son, Rhesus, and he soon introduces Luke to his other neighbours, including the tomboy mummy, Cleo Farr, the stunningly beautiful witch, Eefa Everwell who owns the local 'pharmacy', the evil Sir Otto Sneer, landlord of Scream Street, and his shape-changing nephew Dixon.

Luke settles in quickly and easily, finally he can be a normal boy, he goes to school with Rhesus and Cleo, and he has real friends. Mr and Mrs Watson, however, live in terror of their neighbours. Luke realises that he is going to have to get them out.

In order to leave Scream Street, a book must be found which explains how it can be done. From this book, Luke learns that he must find six relics, left behind by the founding fathers of Scream Street. Sir Otto Sneer doesn't want Luke to succeed.

In this first book, Luke and his friends search for the first relic, left behind by the vampiric founder, he needs his wits, and more than anything, his friends.

**Style**

Although this does sound like a horror aimed at children, it's actually much more an adventure and a comic novel. The opening to the book is a vampire chasing a boy, and then seeming to eat a dog, but even this isn't scary (and that's not just my opinion as an adult, the year 4s and 5s weren't uncomfortable with it in the slightest, nor were their younger siblings).

A first glance, these books appear to be aimed more at boys, but I don't think this is true. The kids at school who read these are pretty evenly split. When you actually get into the characters, you find that the female character is given q fairly male role of 'hero' (Donbavand explained that this was his intention, that he gets annoyed by stereotypical girl roles).

**My opinion**

To my great surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's very well written, with well developed characters and a gripping if predictable storyline. The illustrations are very effective (these are done by Lily Bernard), and they have given Donbavand and Walker Books a great form of merchandise.

I'd recommend this book to advanced 7 year old readers, and to any Harry Potter fans in late primary school. 

...less