DEAR VAMPA

In a letter to his Transylvanian grandfather young Bram Pire tallies complaints against his new next-door neighbors the Wolfsons: They stay up and make noise all day. They sit out in the sunlight. They lock their windows at night (very inconsiderate). They have strange ideas about Halloween costumes. There’s nothing for it but to move back to Transylvania. In contrast to the busy, exuberant, brightly colored Wolfson family in Collins’ rapidly sketched cartoon scenes, the black-and-white Pires stand about in pointy-eared bewilderment. The author saves a twist for the end, having the Wolfsons undergo a sudden transformation (hint: check their name) as they watch the Pires huffily depart. Patricia Polacco’s The Graves Family (2003) would doubtless have made more resilient neighbors. (Picture book. 6-8)