pamela
I used to work as a bookseller, and the number of pearl-clutching parents we had come in, lamenting "the state of children's literature these days" was...many. Every new Zoella novel or transitory work put out by whatever YouTuber was...
Read moreI used to work as a bookseller, and the number of pearl-clutching parents we had come in, lamenting "the state of children's literature these days" was...many. Every new Zoella novel or transitory work put out by whatever YouTuber was en vogue that month was treated like it was ruining the written word and that children "just don't read how they used to".
Bullshit.
There has always been great children's literature, and there has always been terrible children's literature. Just because we enjoy one, doesn't mean we don't get to enjoy the other. And this book, dear readers, is terrible. But did nine-year-old me love it? Absolutely.
My husband and I both read The Last Vampire as kids and have fond memories of it. It's the kind of children's book that is easy to read, and full of PG-13 violence and sex. Both of us remembered it being super racy to our juvenile minds, but on re-read, it's really incredibly tame, especially given that I was reading Anne Rice books only a couple of years after this.
Coming back to The Last Vampire as an adult really showed how poorly this book has aged. Honestly, the quality of even trashy books for kids has improved markedly over the last decade. The writing in this novel is clipped and forced, the dialogue is pretentiously unrealistic, there is no character development to speak of (everyone is instantly in love, there are no stakes, and apparently murdering someone's parent is no big deal), and there are some pretty archaic views and representations of the book's characters - not to mention the book's protagonist is meant to be a 500-year-old Indian woman but her people are "the original Aryans" so of course she's white, blonde, and has blue eyes. Ahh, the 90's, how I do not miss your lack of diversity.
The Last Vampire is just not good. I'm not sure if it's out of print, but it definitely should be. For all the hand-wringing that modern parents do about the quality of children's books today, they are definitely better, and thankfully more diverse than when I was growing up. Did reading trashy books like this ruin my life or form my future reading habits? No. I enjoyed the book at the time, and now that I know better, I don't.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, some books belong in the past, with fond memories of enjoying them, and probably shouldn't be revisited. Don't judge your adult reading habits on the books you liked when you were a kid. We all learn and grow.