AN ALA QUICK PICK FOR RELUCTANT YOUNG ADULT READERS • The first suspenseful installment of Heather Brewer’s New York Times bestselling series, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod! If you thought eighth grade was tough, try it with fangs and a fear of garlic. Junior high really stinks for thirteen-year-old Vladimir Tod. Bullies harass him, the principal is dogging him, and the girl he likes prefers his best friend. Oh, and Vlad has a secret: His mother was human, but his father was a vampire. With no idea of the extend of his powers and no one to teach him, Vlad struggles daily with his blood cravings and his enlarged fangs. When a strange substitute teacher begins to question him a little too closely, Vlad worries that his cover is about to be blown. But then he realizes he has a much bigger problem: He’s being hunted by vampire killer who is closing in . . . fast.