Vampire High by Douglas Rees
This is another book I picked up at Goodwill. Vampire High is a young adult novel, probably appropriate for ages 10 and up. While I was reading it I thought that this might be the kind of book to give to a kid who doesn't like to read. It reminded me of the Phantom Tollbooth in a way because there is a lesson in here about at least making an effort in life.
Cody is an underachiever because he's unhappy that his parents moved to New England, and after he fails all his classes, his dad transfers him to Vlad Dracul. This school is amazing but mysterious - there huge buildings, high ceilings, marble, chandeliers and oil paintings and silent, tall, super-smart and super-strong students. Cody is amazed he get in right away just for agreeing to try out for the water polo team. It isn't long before he learns the reason why - his classmates are vampires, and they don't like water. Cody is one of a handfull of human students in the school, and he'll be guaranteed As and cruise through life, but it also means he's mostly ignored and nothing he does matters. This doesn't sit well for Cody, but when he actually wants to earn his grades he meets resistence from the vampires and the other lazy human students. I thought this was a fun, engrossing book and a pretty fast read. This felt like it could be the beginning of a series but I didn't see any other books out.
