Vampire Jam Sandwich

Written by Casey Lyall

Illustrated by Nici Gregory

Tundra Books

978-1-774883464

48 pp.

Ages 3–7

July 2025 

 

You know what happens when a vampire takes a bite of a human, right? But what happens when it takes a bite of a delicious strawberry jam sandwich?

From Vampire Jam Sandwich, written by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Nici Gregory

A tale so fearsome that when

 they hear it, folks run to tighten

 the lid of every jam jar . . . 

This might be a legend or just a scary story but don't let that keep you away or worry that it will keep you up at night. It's the story of a jam sandwich, a vampire that may or may not be called Terrence, and a little girl who wants to protect all the jars of strawberry jam. 

Our "legend" begins in the middle of the night when a "vampire" whose scare-factor is all the greater because of the flashlight shining beneath his face (or is it?) makes his way to a kitchen. He takes a bite of a sandwich, perhaps anticipating a different red filling, and is delighted with the taste of the strawberry jam on very tasty bread. But when he is surprised by a little girl in her nightgown, he takes off, leaving a jam sandwich that has been turned into a vampire jam sandwich. And that vampire jam sandwich is craving more, more, more jam! That little girl heeds the advice of the narrator to keep the remaining jars of strawberry jam safe, but will her actions actually do so?

From Vampire Jam Sandwich, written by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Nici Gregory

Readers will know from the book cover that Vampire Jam Sandwich is not a scary story. Casey Lyall's humour is subtle but it's there and children will laugh to think that a sandwich would crave strawberry jam and pursue it relentlessly. 

From Vampire Jam Sandwich, written by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Nici Gregory

But it's the way that Casey Lyall presents the story that pulls the reader in. It's like the classic tale of moving from a dark, dark forest indoors to yet another dark, dark space. Her words may try to convey some scary elements like a vampire but in the context of strawberry jam sandwiches and a narrator who plays with both the reader and the little girl in a mischievous way, Casey Lyall never strays from a tale of humour. 

From Vampire Jam Sandwich, written by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Nici Gregory

England's Nici Gregory also tries to suggest an eeriness to Vampire Jam Sandwich with her sepia tones and blotches of red. But there's no darkness here, just some nighttime endeavours and a whole lot of sweetness. From the humongous eyes on all the characters to the cowlicks on the children and the charming details such as the cat's fish-shaped tag and the strawberry-themed home decorations, Nici Gregory ensures that the balance of humour and potential scariness always leans heavily to the delightful.

  

We're in tail end of strawberry season where I live and there will be much jam-making going on. Hope you can find a way to keep your jam safe from midnight snackers and marauding vampire sandwiches because they'll be sure to be tempted.

Blood Prophecy (The Drake Chronicles, Book 6)

by Alyxandra Harvey

Walker Books/Bloomsbury

978-0-802734297

475 pp.

Ages 14+

2013

Blood Prophecy, the sixth and final book of Alyxandra Harvey's The Drake Chronicles, came out at the end of last year but I couldn't bear to read it.  Ending trilogies is hard enough. Imagine what it's like having committing yourself to getting involved with characters after six books. But it's time.  Time to wrap up story-lines, relationships and clean up the messes from nasty vampires and rogue hunters.

When the various vampire tribes gathered at the Blood Moon (Book 5) to forge relationships and see the new queen crowned, Solange, the youngest of the Drake offspring, was not dealing well with her new vampire-ness, seeming to have gone to the darkside and listening to a voice that encourages her to feed her blood lust (not something her family does).  Sadly, her brother Nicholas and her best friend, Lucy, Nicholas' girlfriend, get caught up in her machinations, which then threaten all the Drakes and relationships between tribes.

While Solange struggles to command her thinking and actions, she begins having bizarre experiences–like time travel or magic–in which she relives the events that the voice in her head, Viola, endured in the 12th c. There are dragons, dungeons, witches, a love interest, a nasty grandmother, and a whole lot of anger.  Luckily, Lucy is sure that Solange is not herself and more likely possessed by another's spirit.  Lucy gets help from all the Drakes and close friends to attempt to rid Solange of Viola, and make things right at the Blood Moon camp where Solange/Viola caused much mayhem.  And did I mention that somebody, dubbed the Dracula Killer, is murdering humans and making it look like the vampires are to blame?

By alternating chapters from the points of view of Solange, Lucy and Nicholas, Alyxandra Harvey provides the means for the characters, and the readers, to put the clues together about Solange's bizarre behaviour, though tracking Solange's actions was rather confusing.  I actually enjoyed the emphasis on Lucy's voice again, as each of the Drake Chronicles books tend to emphasize the budding relationship of one Drake son with a new character, and Lucy and Nicholas' relationship has not been front and center since Hearts at Stake.  Of course, Kieran and Solange do resolve their bumpy love in Blood Prophecy but Lucy and Nicholas' interactions are so much more satisfying.  That said, I think Alyxandra Harvey had a hard time trying to incorporate all the established romances (Hunter and Quinn, Christabel and Connor, Isabeau and Logan) into Blood Prophecy, though they all make appearances.  Because the couples vary greatly in their sensibilities, their cursory participation in the plot, sadly, just wasn't enough for fans of the Drakes.

While Blood Prophecy and Blood Moon to some extent establish the story-line that brings together all the groups, vampire and not, introduced in the earlier books, Books 1-4 are still my favourites, relying more on establishing the Drake family and its interactions with these groups.  With three Drake sons–Sebastian, Marcus and Duncan–left without their own full novels in which they find partners for themselves, The Drake Chronicles ended far too abruptly for me.  I wanted more.  

Luckily, though Alyxandra Harvey has completed the novels of The Drake Chronicles with Blood Prophecy, look for extras at her website and elsewhere.  There are six novellas, including Sound and Fury which is appended to Blood Prophecy, to help take the sting off the end. 

The Night Wanderer: A Graphic Novel

by Drew Hayden Taylor
Art by Michael Wyatt
Graphic adaptation by Alison Kooistra
Annick Press
978-1-55451-572-1
108 pp.
Ages 12+
September, 2013

Drew Hayden Taylor's original Native gothic novel The Night Wanderer (Annick, 2007) has found its graphic texture in this upcoming release, The Night Wanderer: A Graphic Novel, illustrated in black and white by Michael Wyatt and adapted by Alison Kooistra.

In the story, Tiffany Hunter lives on the Anishnabe First Nations reserve at Otter Lake with her dad and grandmother, and feels like she has more than her share of angst.  Her non-Native boyfriend Tony may take her to drinking parties but never wants to really be seen with her.  Her friends, Darla and Kim, are feeling ostracized by her and reciprocate.  Her mother left and has moved to Edmonton with her white boyfriend, which clouds most of her dad's interactions with anger, including when he discovers her disastrous report card.  And now they've taken on a boarder, Pierre L'Errant, who claims his great-grandfather came from Otter Lake.

"Dad, I'm sick of all this garbage.  I'm just sixteen years old and I've got another seventy years of misery ahead of me.  And right now, the only thing I'm sure of is I can't take it." (pg. 68)

It is Pierre L'Errant, their mysterious boarder, who finds Tiffany and shares some truths about himself to help encourage her self-respect.

While I suspect that this graphic version of Drew Hayden Taylor's story may lack the literary punch of its original form (not surprising when text must be culled), The Night Wanderer: A Graphic Novel still produces the eerie atmosphere of the supernatural enmeshed in the harsh reality of many First Nations' people.  Even without the appearance of Pierre L'Errant (l'errant is French for "the wanderer"), Tiffany's life is a mash up of unfulfilled wishes, loss and confusion.  But, because his reminiscences and secretive actions on the reserve bring into question his true nature, Pierre's involvement with the young Tiffany adds the darker supernatural elements, leaving the reader wondering whether the story will turn out horribly or favourably for her.  Michael Wyatt's sharp-edged illustrations, only black and white with occasional splotches of blood red, complement the text appropriately, definitely prompting trepidation (though his final image surprisingly produced a calm in this reader).  While I would have liked to see how Drew Hayden Taylor would have adapted his own text for this graphic novel of The Night Wanderer, both Alison Kooistra and Michael Wyatt can be commended for bringing this gothic tale to a new audience of young readers, melding the vampire phenomenon with a First Nations' legend.

Bleeding Hearts

by Alyxandra Harvey

Bloomsbury US

978-0802722850

304 pp.

Ages 14-17

2011

Bleeding Hearts, the fourth book in Alyxandra Harvey's vampire series The Drake Chronicles, introduces a new character to Violet Hill - Christabel, Lucy's cousin who has come to stay with them while her mom is in rehab for alcoholism. Lucy appreciates her cousin's company (even if Christabel is content to just read), especially when she's barely seen her best friend Solange, a newly-turned vampire, in over a month. Even Solange's boyfriend, Kieran, a Helios Ra vampire hunter, is concerned about Solange's odd behaviour.  Luckily, Lucy is still dating Solange's brother, Nicholas Drake, and is training with Hunter Wild, a student at the Helios Ra Academy and girlfriend of Quinn Drake, Nicholas' older brother, so she knows what's going on around Violet Hill.

And what's going on around Violet Hill is that it's no longer a quiet and safe community.  The dark, blue-skinned Hel Blar continue their nasty attacks, although many seem to be wearing copper collars and responding to a whistle summons now.  But, with a Blood Moon gathering scheduled, vampires, including a few articulate light-skinned Hel Blar, from around the world are converging on Violet Hill.

Although Lucy's parents have imposed an incredibly early curfew on the girls if they are unescorted, to keep them safe from the increased Hel Blar attacks, Christabel knows nothing of the paranormal activity and is convinced that she's street-wise enough to take care of herself. That's how she first encounters Connor Drake, Quinn's more modest twin, as she sneaks out for a walk.  There's obviously some subtle chemistry between them, but Christabel doesn't know he's a vampire.  That is, until she is kidnapped by the light-skinned Hel Blar, called Na-Foir, who believe she is Lucy and she can't explain away all the weirdness she sees.  Luckily, Connor has become familiar with Christabel's scent (how romantic!) and gets involved in her rescue, but not before he has to reveal his vampire-ness to her, negotiate with a Wendat and a pirate Na-Foir, and fight more nasty Hel Blar.

The requisite romance, Christabel and Connor's, will please teen readers of The Drake Chronicles, especially as both characters demonstrate an endearing modesty and the awkwardness of the first serious relationship.  But, by introducing Aidan and Saga as representatives of the new sub-species (I'm not sure if that is correct taxonomically), the Na-Foir, and Christabel who leaps from the naive human to something which you will need to read the book to learn, Alyxandra Harvey has enriched the series.  The impending Blood Moon gathering (and Book #5 in the series) is sure to create more conflicts from the developments in Bleeding Hearts, particularly as there may be every reason to believe that not all the romantic pairings will survive.

Alas, if there ever was a single-word sentence to end a book that could leave the reader dangling over a crevasse of trepidation, Bleeding Hearts has it.  Luckily, Blood Moon was released in June.

Alyxandra Harvey's The Drake Chronicles

Having recently met Canadian YA author Alyxandra Harvey at the Festival of Trees in Toronto, as her novel Haunting Violet (Walker & Co., 2011) was selected as the Honour Book for the 2012 Red Maple Award, I learned that she pens a very successful and popular supernatural series called The Drake Chronicles.  So, having enjoyed Haunting Violet, I thought I'd look into The Drake Chronicles and have just finished reading the first three books.  How could I have been so remiss in not recognizing this series when it first came out?  With five books in total already published and the sixth scheduled for release in January, 2013 (see list below), I've got a lot of catching up to do. 

1. Hearts at Stake (alternate title: My Love Lies Bleeding)
2. Blood Feud
3. Out for Blood
4. Bleeding Hearts
5. Blood Moon
6. Blood Prophecy (for release in January 2013)

For now, I'll limit myself to reviewing only the first books in the series here.  After all, you can get too much of a good thing, just like chocolate. And the Drake Chronicles are a very good thing.

Hearts at Stake
Written by Alyxandra Harvey
Walker & Company
(Distributed by Penguin Canada)
978-0-8027-2074-0
248 pp.
Ages 14-17
2010


Blood Feud 
Written by Alyxandra Harvey
Walker & Company
(Distributed by Penguin Canada)
978-0-8027-2096-2
258 pp.
Ages 14-17
2010


Out for Blood 
Written by Alyxandra Harvey
Walker & Company
(Distributed by Penguin Canada)
978-0-8027-2168-6
292 pp.
Ages 14-17
2010


 

The Drake Chronicles are called such after the Drake family, an ancient family of vampires, upon whom each story is founded.  The nucleus of the contemporary Drake family consists of mother Helena, father Liam, seven brothers (Nicholas, Logan, Quinn, Connor, Sebastian, Marcus, Duncan) and the youngest and only daughter, Solange.  Also living with the family at the beginning of the series are Aunt Hyacinth, Helena's aunt, and Uncle Geoffrey, Liam's brother.  Lucy, Solange's human best friend, is also an integral member of the Drake family, essentially an honorary sister, daughter and soon girlfriend.

In the first book, Hearts at Stake, Solange is worrying about her impending sixteenth birthday, the time for her blood change from human to vampire.  Knowing the physical and emotional trauma that all her older brothers endured with the change, Solange is already apprehensive.  But, as the only female vampire-born offspring, a prophecy declares that she will be the ruling Queen, destined to supplant Lady Natasha.  And now a menagerie of vampires, including the power-hungry Montmartre, are sending courting gifts, hopeful of a liaison with an upcoming queen.  Luckily, her best friend Lucy, a human, is sticking around to help her still enjoy life, even if Lucy and Solange's brother Nicholas keep butting heads as they have since childhood (though that power struggle now includes surprising kisses!)  So, not only does Solange have to worry about the change (and how good her best-friend Lucy will smell), and the endless (and sometimes gross) gifts of her suitors, everyone is out to protect her, practically suffocating her, especially once they learn of a bounty on the Drakes.  But, Solange is determined to have a life, even if that means getting closer to Kieran Black, the Helios-Ra vampire hunter who is convinced the Drakes killed his father. 

Blood Feud has the Drake family preparing for Helena’s coronation as the new Queen, with special guests and emissaries beginning to arrive.  The representative of the Hounds, Isabeau St. Croix, an eighteen-year-old woman whose aristocratic parents were murdered during the French Revolution, had been turned into a vampire by Greyhaven and buried for centuries before being rescued by the powerful Hounds.  Now Isabeau represents her queen or shamanka, Kala, and the Hounds who have allied themselves with the Drakes, particularly against Montmartre and his Hel-Blar army.  Not surprising that Logan Drake, wearer of waistcoats, frock coats and pirate shirts, finds himself drawn to Isabeau, as they work together to thwart the attacks of Montmartre, the Hel-Blars and even Greyhaven.

Drake brother Quinn and Helios-Ra student Hunter Wild are the voices of Out for Blood, the third book in The Drake Chronicles.  Hunter, an outstanding student at the Helios-Ra Academy, has been chosen by Helios-Ra leader Hart to accompany him and nephew Kieran Black to Helena Drake's coronation, as the Helios-Ra are allying themselves with the Drakes.  Through Kieran, who is still dating Solange, Hunter encounters Quinn to whom she is wildly attracted.  Quinn, of course, is similarly attracted, though with his charm and startling handsome features (like all Drake men), he is known as quite a ladies' man.  Having a vampire as a close acquaintance is problematic for the young Helio-Ra, especially with her bigoted grandfather, but she needs to uncover the truth about some goings-on at the Academy, and Quinn is eager to help and protect her.

If you check out  Alyxandra Harvey's website, you'll see how popular her books are throughout the world by fans of YA vampire books. While it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact features of the books that the fans love, I suspect that it has much to do with the great and varied characters, sweet romances, strong female leads, expressive teen attitudes, and the interweaving of vampires, Helios-Ra, Hounds, Hel-Blar and other assorted groups.  While the paranormal aspects of the books create fantastic context for the stories, the interrelationships between individuals and groups are easily recognizable for YA readers:  best friends, enemies, siblings, crushes, guardians and children, teachers and students, mixed with love, hate, like, disgust, respect, fear, confusion, loyalty, and concern.  The familiarity blended with the fantasy and the resolution of the good-evil conflict is an irresistible combination.

Alyxandra Harvey's books are regular contenders in the best of the paranormal romances that include series like Twilight, the House of Night, the Mortal Instruments, the Infernal Devices and the Darkest Powers.  I couldn't count the number of readers who proclaimed with exclamation their preference for The Drake Chronicles over the Twilight series.  That's high praise for a series by a Canadian author whose books have not had the exposure and promotion that the other has enjoyed.  And as long as Alyxandra Harvey continues to tell stories about the Drake family and those in their circle in her winning style, readers, including myself, will continue to escape into the tempting shadows of The Drake Chronicles.

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As already mentioned, Alyxandra Harvey has a fabulous website with details about the books, trailers, mailing list, bio and other such goodies.  But, if you only want to see a few of the official videos for these books, they are available on the CanLit for LittleCanadians: Book Trailers site here.