cover image Vampirina Ballerina Hosts a Sleepover

Vampirina Ballerina Hosts a Sleepover

Anne Marie Pace, illus. by LeUyen Pham. Disney-Hyperion, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4231-7570-4

In Vampirina’s second story, the doe-eyed vampire ballerina demonstrates how to host a successful sleepover. Initially, Pham shows Vampirina trying to mask her clan’s Addams family tendencies, placing a pink rug over a trapdoor and dressing up a pet bat like a parrot. Once the sleepover starts, she learns she’s not the only one who appreciates bat wings and the color black. Throughout, Pace’s droll advice contrasts delightfully with Pham’s spooky-comical watercolors (“For those not eager to sink their teeth into something new, pizza will do,” she writes; the other menu option involves tentacles), and it should prove heartening for readers who feel that their families are a bit different. Ages 3–5. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt. (July)