Castle Dracula: Romania's Vampire Home

Castles, Palaces & Tombs

by Barbara Knox, Stephen F. Brown

Meet the real Dracula in this gripping story of Romania's legendary Bran Castle--today known as Castle Romania's Vampire Home. Adventure-seeking readers will learn how Bran Castle's most famous visitor--the fearsome Vlad the Impaler--defended a besieged nation while inspiring a legend of vampires and the undead. Four-color photos, maps, timelines and compelling narratives will enlighten students as they explore 700 years of Romanian history through the corridors and secret passageways of Castle Dracula.

32 pages, Library Binding

First published March 15, 2005

Reviews

[Amy the book-bat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting. It seemed to go backward in time, which actually kind of worked for this particular topic. It mentioned the novel Dracula as well as the 1931 movie and then proceeded to move back into the Middle Ages and Vlad the Impaler. I like that it didn't shy away from unpleasant things like people being impaled on stakes. I believe that children aren't stupid and they know when an adult is trying to hide something from them. Best to put it out in the open because they will find out eventually. The way this book is written, the potentially gruesome parts are explained factually and without embellishment. There is little to no gore when talking about the battles and the impalings, so children aren't likely to get too scared. I was surprised on the page of "facts" that under vampire legends it says they can be killed with silver bullets. While in some stories this may be true, the most widely accepted manner of killing vampires is the stake through the heart. I just thought it an odd choice since silver bullets are more commonly associated with werewolves. Anyway, I think that a potentially difficult historical subject was handled well in how it was presented for children. Since the main focus of the book is the castle, the really horrific things that Vlad Dracula did were more of a side note than an in-your-face subject, which allowed it to be less gruesome and still be historical.

[Cynthia June Long · Rating 1 out of 5]

NY: Bearport, 2005.
32 pages.
mediocre.
Starts with the movie (phooey!)
Mostly a series of photos and illustrations strung together with text.
The story of Vlad nailing the "hats" (sic) [turbans] of the visitors [Ottoman emissaries] to their heads is presented inaccurately as if they "forgot" without any political & cultural context.
Timeline, Glossary, Table of Contents, Bibliography, etc.
The author's credentials are (apparently) that she liked the Dracula movie, she likes vampire stories, and wants to go "vampire hunting" (tourism) in Romania.
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Nice touch (for personal reasons not necessary to the text):
a nice photo of 20th C Queen Marie and family [e.g. Illeana/Mother Alexandra] in traditional costume on page 23. photos of Queen Marie's bedroom on pages 24-25.

[Jean-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this to complement our middle ages history lesson about Eastern Europe. This picture book tells the story behind Romania's Vlad the Impaler and his legendary Bran Castle, better known as Dracula's Castle. It's a quick, entertaining read, so easy and fun, in fact, that my 8-year old gladly read it aloud to me. :-)

[Duane · Rating 3 out of 5]

For younger readers who don't need to know all the grissly details, will enjoy learning about how the myth of Dracula came about and the castle he really called home. Filled with nice photographs and simple-to-understand wording, this is a nice resource for anyone's library collection.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whole series was well written (yet simple) and very interesting. I wish there were more books in it!

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for kids. Probably 6th grade on because of the subject matter. Interesting to read about how the myth of Dracula came about. Great pictures. Short, easy read.