Reviews
Dracula: The Real Story
“Dracula: The Real Story is a juvenile biography at its best: and because the subject involves a somewhat sinister figure, it’ll attract more leisure readers in the 9-12 age group than most biographies.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy a vivid nonfiction probe of one Vlad Dracula, a little-known Romanian prince who emerged from fugitive status to become one of the most influential warlords of his time, operating between the Ottoman and European Empires with such cunning and brutal tactics (even for the fifteenth century) that he earned the title ‘Vlad the Impaler’.
Dracula: The Real Story opens with a quiz and a challenge: who was the real Dracula? Was he a supernaturally-powered count who feasted on the blood of women by night, stymied only by religious symbols; was he a prince obsessed with torture, who terrorized warlords and ambassadors alike? Either way, Dracula was relatively fearless - and the intense descriptions of violence, and the author’s skill at contrasting reality with fantasy will draw mature young readers into a fascinating story that seems like fiction, but is historical fact.
Its dialogue isn’t your usual stilted nonfiction read, but a lively set of interactions between author and reader often couched in the first person to encourage a personal level of involvement: “Dracula, a prince? I don’t think so, you might say to yourself. Princes are noble, charming, and civilized. Besides, I’ve never heard of this skull-nailing, bloody carpenter. Dracula’s a bloodsucker, a vampire, right? Fangs, blood, bats, garlic, wooden stakes, castles, Transylvania…you know—the count! Ah, yes. The count. The world knows about him, but where did he come from?”
Would that all young adult nonfiction titles adopt this tone: there’d be many more young readers interested in learning, with such an entertaining and interactive approach! But then again, what young reader wouldn’t be interested in learning more about Dracula, the first vampire outlined in literature?
Quotes from source materials (letters, writings of the times) accompany this lively survey and support its contentions and history. From how Vlad discovered his brother had been tortured and murdered to the politics of his era and a focus on revenge which turned into a lifelong obsession with violence, Dracula: The Real Story is more than a narrowed focus of a man’s life, but a wider portrait of fifteenth century intrigue and power struggles. Juvenile readers learn about the dilemmas, conflicts, and approaches to war that were altered by Dracula and his motivations, and, surprisingly, how he was viewed as a hero by some.
Want to get juveniles interested in history? Begin with Dracula: The Real Story: there’s no better way of creating this interest than with a work of nonfiction that uses the specter of a real-life ‘vampire’ and then brings it to life with vivid, rich and interactive descriptions!”– D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
So sit back, relax, and enjoy a vivid nonfiction probe of one Vlad Dracula, a little-known Romanian prince who emerged from fugitive status to become one of the most influential warlords of his time, operating between the Ottoman and European Empires with such cunning and brutal tactics (even for the fifteenth century) that he earned the title ‘Vlad the Impaler’.
Dracula: The Real Story opens with a quiz and a challenge: who was the real Dracula? Was he a supernaturally-powered count who feasted on the blood of women by night, stymied only by religious symbols; was he a prince obsessed with torture, who terrorized warlords and ambassadors alike? Either way, Dracula was relatively fearless - and the intense descriptions of violence, and the author’s skill at contrasting reality with fantasy will draw mature young readers into a fascinating story that seems like fiction, but is historical fact.
Its dialogue isn’t your usual stilted nonfiction read, but a lively set of interactions between author and reader often couched in the first person to encourage a personal level of involvement: “Dracula, a prince? I don’t think so, you might say to yourself. Princes are noble, charming, and civilized. Besides, I’ve never heard of this skull-nailing, bloody carpenter. Dracula’s a bloodsucker, a vampire, right? Fangs, blood, bats, garlic, wooden stakes, castles, Transylvania…you know—the count! Ah, yes. The count. The world knows about him, but where did he come from?”
Would that all young adult nonfiction titles adopt this tone: there’d be many more young readers interested in learning, with such an entertaining and interactive approach! But then again, what young reader wouldn’t be interested in learning more about Dracula, the first vampire outlined in literature?
Quotes from source materials (letters, writings of the times) accompany this lively survey and support its contentions and history. From how Vlad discovered his brother had been tortured and murdered to the politics of his era and a focus on revenge which turned into a lifelong obsession with violence, Dracula: The Real Story is more than a narrowed focus of a man’s life, but a wider portrait of fifteenth century intrigue and power struggles. Juvenile readers learn about the dilemmas, conflicts, and approaches to war that were altered by Dracula and his motivations, and, surprisingly, how he was viewed as a hero by some.
Want to get juveniles interested in history? Begin with Dracula: The Real Story: there’s no better way of creating this interest than with a work of nonfiction that uses the specter of a real-life ‘vampire’ and then brings it to life with vivid, rich and interactive descriptions!”– D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Review