My FANGtastically Evil Vampire Pet, the epic spin-off of Mo O'Hara's New York Times bestselling My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish series features an aspiring evil scientist, paranormal pets, and plenty of hilarious summer camp shenanigans.
Welcome to Camp Mwhaaa-haa-ha-a-watha!
This summer is going to be epic. Epically evil, that is. ‘Cause I’m going to Evil Scientist Summer Camp!
No annoying little brothers. No annoying zombie goldfish. Just me, my best friend Sanj, our notebook of evil plans, and my truly evil (and totally forbidden) vampire kitten Fang. We’ve got it all planned out. Okay, so maybe I didn’t expect for the totally not-evil Geeky Girl to show up, or for Sanj to find a new partner to work with, but there’s no way I’m going to let them ruin my summer. Evil Emperor of the Camp, here I come!
"Originally from America, I moved to London because I wanted to live abroad but spoke no foreign languages. After a brief and unsuccessful stint as a serving wench at the Tower of London I found work as an actress and comedy performer. I’ve perfomed regularly at Edinburgh and London comedy festivals. A few years back I got a job touring around the UK as a storyteller and that’s when I discovered that kids liked, laughed at and didn’t fall asleep when I performed stuff that I wrote myself. I was hooked on writing and performing for kids..."
A delightfully evil end to Mark's summer at Camp Mwhaaa-haa-ha-a-watha. Like most summers, I never wanted this one to come to a close. It was so much fun reading about what the campers were up to in their quests to be names Evil Emperor of the Week.
The adventure continues when Dr. Cyberbyte visits the camp as the Evil Celebrity Judge of the week. He challenges the campers to put their own evil spin on his newest inventions, the Cyber-dog 5000. But the camp is in for some unexpected surprises when the dogs turn out to be not quite what they seem. With the help of their evil (and not-so-evil) pets, Mark and the other campers must overcome the latest hurdle in their fight to survive the summer.
While this could be read as a standalone, I definitely recommend reading the books in order. The plot is still pretty easy to follow without the background but it makes it more fun to know what all the references mean.
A great end to the series. It follows the same style as the previous books but has its own unique adventure. Great humor and action scenes and a wonderful resolution.
While I didn't want to the summer to end, this was the perfect way to do it. Everything felt like it wrapped up in a satisfactory way. Such a fun series.
3.5, but I'm rounding down because I don't feel like there's a lot of uniqueness necessarily.
Some initial thoughts: I know this is a young children's book, probably just out of that first chapter book range. But the story is told in first person (from Mark's perspective), and yet Mark's feelings on things are rarely mentioned. I wasn't expecting deep thoughts or anything, but at least a little more internal dialog would have stepped up this story-telling game.
Otherwise, the chapters tend to end on that cliffhanger status that kids love. Dr. Cyberbyte sounds like a version of Steve Jobs (hello Turtleneck shirt). There are some genuinely funny moments. The drama at the end when you think Fang has been turned into a cyber pet (which really reminded me of a cyberman subplot of a Doctor Who episode) made me emotional. There are a lot of kids who would find interest in this title, but the field of funny kids books is tight and this one has trouble finding its own uniqueness in that field.
Mark, his "friend" Sanj, and his vampire kitten, Fang, all go to summer camp, an evil science camp. Fang is not allowed but Mark takes her anyway. When they get to camp, Sanj abandons Mark for a guy who is better at science and takes their book of evil plans with him. Mark gets stuck with "Geeky Girl" and despite his protests, it turns out to be a good combination. Fang helps save the day in the end, but I won't spoil it for you. I liked the story but I didn't like how Sanj betrays their friendship.