Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Karin Perry for TeensReadToo.com
Well shiver-me-timbers! Get ready to be washed away by this exciting, swashbuckling adventure. VAMPIRATES is the story of Connor and Grace Tempest, twins and children of the lighthouse keeper of Crescent Moon Bay on the East Coast of Australia in the year 2505. The story begins with the two young children getting out of bed in the middle of a violent thunderstorm. They wander up to the lamp room to watch the glory of the lightening and churning water with their father. In order to ease their mind, their father sings their favorite sea shanty.
"I'll tell you a tale of Vampirates
A tale as old as true.
Yea, I'll sing you a song of an ancient ship,
And its mighty fearsome crew."
The twins are finally coaxed back into bed after several verses of the eerie song and settle in for the night.
Seven years later, Connor and Grace's father dies, leaving them penniless and homeless. The kids aren't strangers to the stares and whispers that occur whenever they walk by because they've been dealing with it since the day they came to the lighthouse. They've always felt like outcasts, never quite fitting in.
People in town couldn't figure out why Connor was so much better at sports than the rest of the kids, even when he neglected practice for weeks. Grave provoked equal suspicion - from both teachers and classmates - with her unusual wide-ranging knowledge and strange notions about things far beyond her age and station in life. Since they knew they'd never feel at home in Crescent Moon Bay without their father, the twins decide to take off in their father's boat and take their chances at sea, rather than moving in with the cold, local banker or going to the orphanage.
Their first night on the ocean a huge storm crashed down on them, tearing their little boat apart. As hard as they tried, they couldn't stay together through the churning water. Thankfully, they are rescued and brought safely on board another vessel; however, not the same one. Connor is pulled aboard a pirate ship named the Diablo and Grace is rescued by the Vampirate ship. Desperate to find each other, they both plead with the captains to go back and search for the other. Both are told there isn't a chance the other would have survived. Neither lose hope and know they'll see each other again.
Connor sets about learning the ways of a pirate. He is assigned chores, makes friends, and receives sword fighting lessons. He participates in a raid on another ship and helps acquire booty for the crew. Grace, meanwhile, stays locked in her cabin, told not to even look out the window. She overhears weird conversations about feasts and witnesses strange things like candles that never extinguish, food that appears out of nowhere, and has the overwhelming need to sleep every time she eats or drinks anything. Grace has one person that she talks to named Lorcan, who has been sworn to protect her from the crew. At first, Grace doesn't understand the reason for the isolation. She doesn't realize that some members of the crew aren't happy with the captain's feeding schedule and wouldn't think twice about disobeying an order. She finds out the hard way when she slips out of the cabin and doesn't make it back before nightfall.
VAMPIRATES is told in alternating chapters from both Connor and Grace's point of view. The reader witnesses the growth in both twins as they are forced to make their way alone for the first time. Their devotion and loyalty to each other is touching and adds to the overall hopeful feeling in the book. Once you dive into this adventure you'll hate having to come up for air.
Keep your eyes peeled for the sequel, VAMPIRATES: TIDE OF TERROR coming out in June of 2007.
Well shiver-me-timbers! Get ready to be washed away by this exciting, swashbuckling adventure. VAMPIRATES is the story of Connor and Grace Tempest, twins and children of the lighthouse keeper of Crescent Moon Bay on the East Coast of Australia in the year 2505. The story begins with the two young children getting out of bed in the middle of a violent thunderstorm. They wander up to the lamp room to watch the glory of the lightening and churning water with their father. In order to ease their mind, their father sings their favorite sea shanty.
"I'll tell you a tale of Vampirates
A tale as old as true.
Yea, I'll sing you a song of an ancient ship,
And its mighty fearsome crew."
The twins are finally coaxed back into bed after several verses of the eerie song and settle in for the night.
Seven years later, Connor and Grace's father dies, leaving them penniless and homeless. The kids aren't strangers to the stares and whispers that occur whenever they walk by because they've been dealing with it since the day they came to the lighthouse. They've always felt like outcasts, never quite fitting in.
People in town couldn't figure out why Connor was so much better at sports than the rest of the kids, even when he neglected practice for weeks. Grave provoked equal suspicion - from both teachers and classmates - with her unusual wide-ranging knowledge and strange notions about things far beyond her age and station in life. Since they knew they'd never feel at home in Crescent Moon Bay without their father, the twins decide to take off in their father's boat and take their chances at sea, rather than moving in with the cold, local banker or going to the orphanage.
Their first night on the ocean a huge storm crashed down on them, tearing their little boat apart. As hard as they tried, they couldn't stay together through the churning water. Thankfully, they are rescued and brought safely on board another vessel; however, not the same one. Connor is pulled aboard a pirate ship named the Diablo and Grace is rescued by the Vampirate ship. Desperate to find each other, they both plead with the captains to go back and search for the other. Both are told there isn't a chance the other would have survived. Neither lose hope and know they'll see each other again.
Connor sets about learning the ways of a pirate. He is assigned chores, makes friends, and receives sword fighting lessons. He participates in a raid on another ship and helps acquire booty for the crew. Grace, meanwhile, stays locked in her cabin, told not to even look out the window. She overhears weird conversations about feasts and witnesses strange things like candles that never extinguish, food that appears out of nowhere, and has the overwhelming need to sleep every time she eats or drinks anything. Grace has one person that she talks to named Lorcan, who has been sworn to protect her from the crew. At first, Grace doesn't understand the reason for the isolation. She doesn't realize that some members of the crew aren't happy with the captain's feeding schedule and wouldn't think twice about disobeying an order. She finds out the hard way when she slips out of the cabin and doesn't make it back before nightfall.
VAMPIRATES is told in alternating chapters from both Connor and Grace's point of view. The reader witnesses the growth in both twins as they are forced to make their way alone for the first time. Their devotion and loyalty to each other is touching and adds to the overall hopeful feeling in the book. Once you dive into this adventure you'll hate having to come up for air.
Keep your eyes peeled for the sequel, VAMPIRATES: TIDE OF TERROR coming out in June of 2007.
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