A tale that swiftly makes a bite into your imagination, but definitely not for the faint-hearted to read in the wee small hours! For those braver souls you may not make it to school on time the next day as this gripping story of a most courageous young woodcutter will keep you turning pages. Save for the weekend and devour in one sitting.

Read either before or after The hunger games or The knife of never letting go. Great stuff!

Also check out Marcus Sedgwick's Floodland. Use AccessIt to reserve any of these books, ( )

Set in 17th century Poland, in huge, snowy forests, My Swordhand is Singing is a lot more than just a simple scary tale.
Woodcutters Peter and his drunkard father, Tomas, have moved - yet again - suddenly, with no explanation from Tomas. Peter has never known why they are always moving, and he also doesn't know what is in the long, thin wooden box his father protects all the time and doesn't say a word about.
They settle down in the remote village of Chust one winter, and not long after they get to work and start to make money, there is a series of mysterious deaths the...
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Peter is a wood cutter who lives with his father Tomas. They are fairly nomadic travelling from town to town and never really settling or being accepted. His mother died giving birth to him and he has been raised by his alcoholic father. He keeps hidden a box from Peter that he is not allowed to open or even touch. When they move to the villiage of Chust which houses no more than 200 people strange things start to happen. People are being killed along with animals and they are smeared with blood.

Peter starts to put the peices together trying to protect his girl Agnes. With the arrival of a group of gypsies more of the pieces slot into place and it turns out the town is being plagued by vampires. These are not your sterotypical vampires, but the old legends where they are more like zombies with none of the charm and swagger of todays popular urban fantasy types. Peter is able to slow them down by garlic, throwing millet seeds at them (they have to stop and pick them all up) and giving them charocoal (they have to write with it until it is all gone). These vampires (or hostages as they are referred to) seem to have greater than usual power leading them to believe the Shadow Queen has returned. It is up to Peter to figure out the meaning behind the song the Miorita and save the villiage.

This was such a great book. It looks at the origins of the vampire mythology and is set in Eastern Europe. Lots of scary moments and fantastic storytelling. Suited to anyone who loves vampires, teen fiction, mythology or a good story. I will definitely be reading more of Sedgwick's books in the near future. ( )

In early 17th century Poland, a woodcutter’s son confronts the risen dead “hostages” (vampires) in a small, woodland hamlet, as well as his father’s drunkenness, the villager’s distrust of outsiders, and being torn between love for his sweetheart and a beautiful Romany girl. Based on Eastern European vampire folklore, rather than British literary convention, with a strong, gloomy atmosphere of cold and terror. Some graphic violence. Ages 12+.

A very uusual tale, not the average vampire tale. It's great for boys as the main charachter is a young boy, but also the story is wrriten for a boy's enjoyment, but I can see girls enjoying it too. Short, sweet and full of plot. ( )