Hanging with Vampires: A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural

by Insha Fitzpatrick

Overview

Discover everything about vampires in this laugh-out-loud nonfiction handbook packed with spooky legends, fascinating history, and weird facts perfect for middle-grade readers and mythology fans!

Are vampires real? Who was Vlad the Impaler? Do vampire bats ever feed on humans? Find out in Hanging with Vampires, a field guide for the curious and the adventurous. Crack open the lid on this guide and you’ll get:

• Bloodcurdling vampire mythology! What exactly is a vampire, anyway?

• Spine-chilling history and science! Uncover how the vampire legend got its start in the medieval ages. 

• A who’s who of vampires! Get to know classic, iconic, and terrifying vampires in pop culture, from Dracula to Adventure Time. 

Hanging with Vampires is the first book in the Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural series, a hilarious and haunting exploration of how myths and legends shape our lives. Sink your fangs into vampire lore and literature with enchanting illustrations and fun activities, like making garlic bread. It’s a spooky world out there–grab your guide, and let’s go!

Look for the next volume, Chilling with Ghosts, for another frightfully good read!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683693413
Publisher:	Quirk Publishing
Publication date:	03/28/2023
Series:	A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural , #1
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	980L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Insha Fitzpatrick is a New Jersey–based author who loves all things horror. She’s the writer of Who Sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott: Rosa Parks (Who HQ), illustrated by Abelle Hayford. She’s also the cowriter of the middle-grade graphic novel series Oh My Gods! with Stephanie Cooke and illustrator Juliana Moon. When she’s not writing, she’s watching horror movies or reality TV and deep-diving into all things true crime.

Read an Excerpt

Are Vampires Real?

Welcome! Whether you picked up this field guide out of sheer boredom or keen curiosity, let me be the first to welcome you on your journey into the unknown. If you love terrifying tales and bone-chilling legends, you’re in the right place. If you hate all that stuff, that’s cool, too! Stick around. This field guide has it all: Science! History! Gross facts! Not-so-gross facts! Cute bats! A really good garlic bread recipe! Seriously, don’t go. Come back! Please!

UH . . . WHO ARE YOU?

Excellent question, hypothetical reader! I’m your guide to the weird world of the supernatural. In this book, I’ll cover everything there is to know about vampires, and then some. It’s like the saying goes: knowledge is power against bloodsucking children of the night.

THE ELEPHANT-ER, VAMPIRE IN THE ROOM

Vampires?! Are they even real? Well, the answer is: yes and no.
     When you think of the classic vampire, you’re probably imagining a spooky undead being who stalks the night, looking for their next innocent human to suck blood from. Or perhaps you’re imagining a sparkly, glamorous vampire who goes to high school. Maybe this vampire can turn into a bat, likes to sleep in a coffin, and has fangs pointy enough to make a dentist faint.
     That kind of vampire, the vampires in books and movies and our imaginations? They don’t exist. At least, not in the real world. You’re not going to run into a vampire sucking on a blood bag like it’s a juice box while you’re walking the dog or biking to school.
     But what if I told you that there is more to vampires than just a guy in a cape who can turn into a bat? The vampire legend has to come from somewhere, right? That’s where things get interesting.
     Vampire lore has its roots in real-life history, science, and culture. The same goes for just about any supernatural legend. There’s a story behind everything. You just have to know where to look.

WHAT’S IN THIS THING?

In this guide, we’re going to bust that coffin wide open and shine a light on the mystery of how the vampire legend got started and how vampires became such a big deal. We’ll dig into all the basics with Vampires 101, study up on the history of vampires, and meet terrifying vampire-like supernatural creatures from all around the world!
     The world is a spooky, weird, and awesome place. This field guide is here to help you on your journey as you explore the supernatural.
So, whenever you’re ready, let’s go! And by go, I mean keep reading. This is a book, after all.

Editorial Reviews

Kids’ Indie Next List Pick

“Fans of all things supernatural will be horrified—and highly entertained.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Fitzpatrick focuses on vampires in a fang-in-cheek tone...any good guidebook leaves readers feeling prepared, and this one is no exception.”—Booklist

“[Insha Fitzpatrick] gives kids, the shaky and the brave, the encouragement to learn about vampires in other cultures and other times…the kid who loves monsters will love Hanging with Vampires, too.”—Terri Schlichenmeyer for the Bristol Herald Courier

“I absolutely loved it! This book really is perfect for kids who are interested in vampire lore whether that be in pop culture or folk traditions from around the world. Loved Lilla Bölecz's illustrations, they are so charming.”—Bree Paulsen, author of Garlic and the Vampire

“You'll eat up this fang-scinating look at vampire mythology! It’s terror-ific!”—Anne Marie Pace, author of Vampirina Ballerina

From the Publisher

2022-12-14
Everything you ever wanted to know about vampires—in history, literature, movies, and folk traditions.

A self-proclaimed horror fan provides a lively introduction to these undead bloodsuckers, making clear that such legends generally have deep roots. She points out that one’s image of a vampire will depend on where they might have encountered such characters. Was it in a book? A film? Classical or modern? She addresses readers directly, writing in a conversational tone as she describes attributes of vampires and offers a “handy cheat sheet” to recognize vampire neighbors (reassuring readers that this is a “totally made-up” situation). Another scenario provides ways to fight hypothetical vampires. There’s a recipe for “bat breath garlic bread,” instructions for composting, and a fill-in-the-blank spooky story to write. Text boxes add scientific and historical information. Chapter by chapter, Fitzpatrick digs down to unearth vampires in European history and myth and similar blood-sucking, shape-shifting characters from around the world. She imagines interviewing Vlad the Impaler (possibly the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula) and Stoker. She explores vampires in books (including YA lit), film, and television and looks at examples of queer representation and vampire stories featuring characters of color. Folklore-lover Bölecz is perfectly matched to this engaging survey. Her dramatic, slightly eerie spot drawings of vampires, bats, coffins, and a diverse array of ordinary humans break up the text and add to the fun.

Fans of all things supernatural will be horrified—and highly entertained. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews