"Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer" by Dustin Higgins and Van Jensen

128 pages

We all know the story of Pinocchio, the little wooden guy who just wanted to be a real boy. Well, do you know what happened after the traditional tale concluded? Turns out, Geppeto got eaten by vampires. Very sad. Of course, Pinocchio was outraged and immediately declared war on the blood-sucking creatures. Fortunately, he was well-equipped to deal with them, as his growing wooden nose provided instant access to an unlimited number of wooden stakes. All he had to do was let a fib slip out, watch his nose grow, break it off, and use it to stab the vampire in the chest. On the down side, the vampire hordes rapidly increased and Pinocchio could hardly keep up. You'll have to read the book yourself to find out whether he kept them at bay...or fell victim himself.

I love a campy horror story as much as (okay, let's be honest here: much more than) the average person, but even I thought that the premise was a bit out-there. How many of these monster mashups can they write? Thank goodness Jen Hendzlik recommended it to me, because I read it anyway and I'm so glad that I did. It totally cracked me up. The plot isn't the strongest--in fact, there's one part of the ending that really irks me, and you'll probably know what I'm talking about if you read it--and I'm still not really sure how Pinocchio still has a wooden nose if he's supposed to be a real boy. Oh, well. The illustrations and the dark humor more than made up for those things.