Review: Vampire High - Douglas Rees

Where I got it: Inter-library Loan
Rating: 3.5 stars
Cover Rating: 2 stars (I don't like that's it's so cartoon-y and what is he doing with that eye there?!??!)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 9, 2003
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Page Count: 226 p.

Cody Eliot did not approve of his parents move from California to Massachusetts. He missed the water and his old life. When he flunks out of Cotton Mather his dad decides it's time for a change, and enrolls him into Vlad Dracul. Cody gets accepted very quickly on the terms that  he is will try out for the Water Polo team. After noticing how odd everyone is and rescuing one of his classmates, he is let on to a secret; everyone in the school is a vampire. The only non-vampires are his water polo teammates. They need a water polo team so they can continue to get state funding, and since vampires can't go in water they let in some humans to form the team. Cody doesn't like the fact that just because he's human he doesn't get graded for real and decides to do something about it. All the changes he is making however is causing the principal a lot of discomfort. Will the principal expel Cody or will Cody end up saving the school and helping his fellow classmate?

This was a really fun book. It was a refreshing change of pace from the drama-induced vampire romances that seem to be plentiful. This was just a really fun book about a kid who ends up in a school of vampires and tries to make some friends even though he is very different. I think this will appeal to younger kids entering the YA genre, as well as YA veterans. It is mild in content and Cody and his friends are an odd bunch to watch. Occasionally Cody would same something out of character, an obscure reference or an oddly SAT-sounding word, but overall his voice was spot on. I also enjoyed all the chapter titles(What to Get for the Vampire Who Has Everything, How to Become a Marked Gadje Without Even Trying). I certainly look forward to reading about their sophomore year. I recommend this to anyone who wants a fun vampire novel.

First Line:
"This all began the day I came home with straight Fs."


Favorite Lines:
"Every book inside was a copy of Dracula. Shelves and shelves of it in English, but there was a section that has it in other languages, too. Every other language, it seemed like."