My Babysitter Is a Vampire

My Babysitter is a Vampire #1

by Ann Hodgman, John Pierard (Illustrator)

Eleven-year-old Meg is not happy that her mother insists on hiring a babysitter for her and her younger brother, especially one with pointed teeth and a fondness for biting people's necks.

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Vampires, Fiction, Halloween, Young Adult, Fantasy

121 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Ann Hodgman (born 1956) is an American author of more than forty children's books as well as several cookbooks and humor books and many magazine articles.

Ann was raised in Rochester, New York and graduated from Harvard College, where she was a staff member on the Harvard Lampoon and the Harvard Advocate. She was the food columnist for the magazines Spy and Eating Well. Her essay "No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch," about taste-testing various dog foods, was included in "Best American Essays." Hodgman is also known for her three cookbooks, Beat This!, Beat That! and One Bite Won't Kill You. She is the author of the 6-book vampire series My Babysitter is a Vampire and the nonfiction memoir "The House of a Million Pets."

Hodgman is married to author David Owen, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and they have two children, Laura and John.

Reviews

[Sharron Joy Reads]

Meg and Trevor have summered on Moose Island for six year. Mom is working at the medical centre and Dad is holed up writing. When their regular babysitter leaves for summer camp their parents hire Vincent. He creeps them out, he is pale with jet black eyes, pointy teeth and owns a coffin shaped suitcase. Soon Meg and her friend Jack realise what Vincent is and the danger they are in!

Such a fun nostalgic read, I would have loved this as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult. The usual thrills and spills as Vincent is unmasked for what he is, the oblivious parents and savvy kids, this is a great adventure story and the cover is glorious!

[Amelia]

I first read this series when I was around nine. I'm thirty-three now and just reread it for the I-don't-know-how-many-th time. It's amazing how well it holds up. It's not even that noticeably dated, aside from the lack of cellphones.

[Sarah]

This was one of my favorite book series when I was a kid.

[Xyra]

This was just okay. I am glad to be finished with it and also glad it was short.

Meg sees a strange looking guy disembark the same ferry her family does. Her spidey senses start tingling and it gets worse when it turns out he will be their family's babysitter for the summer. In the beginning, Meg is a terrible sister. She cooks up reasons to visit her friend Jack leaving her little brother alone with a guy she can't stand all because she thinks Trevor likes him.

This paranormal story is part mystery and part thriller. For a villain/atagonist, Vincent is extremely flat. The parents are oblivious; it seems Vincent's glamour works better on adults than tweens and children. I did like that Meg and Jack went to the library for help in figuring out what to do. Meg's final solution was new and interesting.

Would I recommend this to anyone, not really. However, there may be other readers who loved it who would. To each their own.

[Roslyn]

Ahhh, the 90's children's book nostalgia.

[Tarah]

This was one of my favourite books as a kid!