The book is extremely eye-catching, I love the cover, the black, grey and white artwork with the orange foil details looks absolutely scrumptious! Amelia Fang wants nothing more to spend time with her best friends Florence (a rare breed of Yeti, TYVM) Grimaldi Reaperton, and Squashy! Throughout the whole book he is seen solving crossword puzzles instead of helping his wife with preparations for an event that is clearly important to her or helping his daughter in a complicated situation she finds herself in.

What I appreciate about Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball was the eventual acceptance shown towards, in this case, Creatures of Light, even though they are talked about as terrifying creatures throughout the book. Loistava tarina, jossa monelta hahmolta irtoaa silmämunat päästä ja jossa syödään herkullisesti löyhkääviä aterioita kuten kainalohikipirtelöitä sekä paistettuja räkäisiä neniä. This makes Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball a very satisfying, funny and curious opening title to a wonderful series.They are wonderfully Gothic yet light-hearted, perfectly capturing the essence of the story and characters. By the end of the book it's revealed that Tangine's mother has disappeared not long after he was born and he's father has spent all of his waking moment's looking for her therefore neglecting Tangine and leaving him in the care of his Mummy Maids.

The drawings were great too with a lot of detail for each character with elaborate costumes for the cast of the book.The Amelia Fang series was Laura's first fiction series as author and illustrator, featuring a young vampire and her friends.

The first in a series, this ghoulishly funny chapter book is full of fabulous gothic pen-and-ink illustrations and explores the importance of friendship. Laura is the creator of the Evil Emperor Penguin books and illustrator of series including Witch Wars, Enid Blyton\'s Famous Five and Cornelia Funke\'s Dragon Rider, as well as many other children’s books.Everyone knew that while Nocturnians were sleeping and the sun was out, terrifying creatures from the nearby Kingdom of the Light lurked around the Petrified Forest. However when she meets her ‘playmate’, Prince Tagine, son of her father’s long- lost friend, King Vladimir, she is less enamoured. Then the King's spoiled son Tangine captures Squashy, Amelia and her friends must escape the party to plan a daring rescue! They would also only drop off a case of books and leave us to run it – it was so lovely to have you on hand to chat to the children and recommend them books, as well as the small (but appreciated! It was such a pleasure to meet you both, and I really appreciated how smoothly and professionally you ran everything.