The second installment of this popular series, The Little Vampire Moves In, was one of my childhood favourites, and even inspired me to make a vampire cape for a Halloween party. Even though I have read the book countless of times, it's in an excellent shape. I loaned some of the next installments from the library ages ago, but in a random order and I can't remember anything about them anymore. It doesn't really matter that much if you don't read the books in order, but I have an obsession for it. I finally wanted to read this first one, and dive into the nostalgic world of the von Schlotterstein vampire family.

This did have the familiar magic, although I didn't get the exactly same feeling of excitement that I used to. The series was my first confrontation with vampires, and maybe partly because of this I prefer the traditional vampires that smell like sweaty coffins and soil. Here vampires aren't too tame, as you would think from a children's book, but for example aunt Dorothee still had that creepy air around her. It was interesting to realise that the feeding habits of vampires aren't even once referred to directly as biting. Anton's family is charming, but not ridiculously perfect. Mom gets a tad too curious all the time and dad gets angry easily. A special mention goes to Amelie Glinke's illustrations, which stuck into my mind ever since I saw them for the first time. The delicate gossamer pencil lines fit perfectly for the atmosphere, and the characters to the overall charming character of the book.