This gloriously ghostly new series from the creator of EVIL EMPEROR PENGUIN is perfect for 7-9 year olds and fans of THE WORST WITCH and WITCH WARS. Amelia Fang is a modern Wednesday Addams – but much more loveable! The story is kind of reminiscent of Hotel Transylvania, and I think the influences are definitely there--Amelia's dad Drake wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt, a short vampire prince with poofy hair, the kind of vampires who's name is Vladimir. It all adds up, is what I'm saying. When Amelia and her friends are invited to Florence's grandmother 350th birthday party, they are very excited! Grand-yeti Clemence lives in the Yeti Pits, a maze of candle-lit tunnels and caves carved into Yeti Mountain. Set in an unusual world full of eccentric characters, the series follows the funny adventures of a young vampire with a big heart, Amelia Fang, and her diverse gang of friends. Here, there are always wrongs that need righting, mysteries that need solving and creatures who need rescuing – but whatever the adventure, Amelia and her pals always manage to save the day in their own way. Amelia sets off determined to retrieve Squashy away from the awful prince but can she and will she succeeded and what is wrong with the prince to make him so awful?

Will Amelia be able to solve the mystery of the missing yeti treasure? And will she and her friends survive the perils of the crumbling Yeti Mountain and all the booby traps on the way? Join Amelia, Florence, Grimaldi, Pumpy and Tangine on the adventure of a lifetime in the fifth book of the series:The book is enjoyable to read, it’s basically charming and disgusting in equal measures! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Amelia knew this already. The Fang family had hosted the Barbaric Ball for generations. It was THE annual event in Nocturnia. Only the most ghoulish and ghastly were invited, and the ball was Countess Frivoleeta’s pride and joy. The illustrations are also done by author Laura Ellen Anderson, and I love the illustrations so much. They are wonderfully Gothic yet light-hearted, perfectly capturing the essence of the story and characters. It’s brilliant to see how this bonkers, infectious world appears in Anderson’s mind because it’s brimming with that much imagination, I needed the visual aid. Drake, my darkness, you do know it’s our annual Barbaric Ball in just three nights?” Countess Frivoleeta cooed. “We still have invitations to send, catering to sort out and— oh, did you book the Howling Wolf Band?” A spook-tacular reading! Funny reading from Amelia Fang and the Memory Theif by Laura Ellen Anderson

Robert Cullen, founder and creative director at Boulder Media and Director on Amelia Fang added, “Bursting with charm, comedy and adventure, Amelia Fang also carries a wonderful message of acceptance at its heart.” This made me quite sad since the book is meant for kids who are easily influenced by factors such the books they read and even though parents are not always "positive figures" they definitely shouldn't be antagonised in children's literature. I feel like Amelia's parents could have been written and portrayed in a much more positive way.

About The Amelia Fang Books

Amelia Fang And The Barbaric Ball is the first children's book that talented and familiar illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson has both written and illustrated and it is going to absolutely delight kids with its laugh out loud humour and description of the creatures living in Nocturnia, especially the sheer terror that glitter provokes in them. A truly wonderful story about making friends and finding out who people really are, it is full of escapades and fun that kids will enjoy reading time and time again and is aimed at the 5 to 8 years market with manageable chapters for the beginning chapter book reader to get their teeth sunk into ;) This book is such a great read that I feel that older children will also love it as well as many parents who will enjoy reading this book either aloud to, or along with, their kids. In the Amelia Fang series, we follow the title character, a cute little vampire, and her friends in Nocturnia, where all things glittery and unicorn related are terrifying but blood and darkness are not! In book one, we are introduced to a whole host of brilliant characters from Amelia Fang to her pet pumpkin Squashy (he is so adorable!) as their world is turned upside down by the arrival of the spoilt Prince Tangine. However, all is not as it seems... Amelia's father is portrayed as a selfish male figure that doesn't care about his family in the least. 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. There is a particular scene where Amelia is amazed because her father puts his own teacup into the sink: Get ready to sink your teeth into the fourth book of the spook-tacular series, Amelia Fang and the Half-Moon Holiday. All this considered I couldn't give Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball a very high rating, which makes me incredibly sad since this book had such potential.

Philippa Tsang, Marc Schmidheiny and Christoph Daniels at DCM Pictures and executive producers on Amelia Fang said, “Amelia Fang is joyful, funny and at its heart, it is a show about embracing difference in our society.”We love the charming and funny illustrations, ghoulish puns and jokes and the wonderfully inventive magical creatures from mischievous caticorns to unicorn lords and terrifying angel-kittens. And the gripping adventures will help keep your attention too! 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. It was useless for Amelia to try to speak to her mother about what she wanted. Being a Fang meant countless vampiress etiquette lessons, cobwebbing practice and never-ending preparations for the Barbaric Ball. Sometimes Amelia wished she belonged to a different family. But the creatures of Nocturnia have begun to act very strangely . . . No one can seem to remember anything – including their own names or even Amelia’s big birthnight party! And when the King’s spoiled son Tangine captures Squashy, Amelia and her friends must escape the party to plan a daring rescue! In their race against time, they begin to realise things in Nocturnia may not be quite what they seem …

If the king DID accept our invitation to the ball, do you think he would bring his son?” Amelia asked. Her eyes lit up for a moment. “Or is Prince Tangine not allowed to come either, because he’s not old?” Absolutely darling! I can't believe I loved this story as much as I did but, by the end, I was absolutely hooked and kept thinking that if I ever have kids, I HAVE to read this to them! Amelia lives with her parents Count Drake and Countess Frivoleeta, and her pet pumpkin Squashy, in Nocturnia - a city in the Kingdom of the Dark, where glitter is terrifying and unicorns and sparkly fairies are the stuff of day-mares. Amelia Fang is a vampire who lives in Nocturnia, a world where vampires and yetis and all sorts of spooky creatures live - and they’re terrified of unicorns and ladybirds and fairies - and with good reason too. The glitter? THE HORROR!Enough chitchat. Now, Amelia, eat up before your fettuccine gets cold, then off to bed,” Countess Frivoleeta said, prodding at her daughter’s cheeks. “We must keep your skin looking pale and deathlike!” I have a soft spot for middle grade and children's books so when I saw Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball I was immediately intrigued. A book set in Nocturnia where everything sparkly, fluffy and cute is considered terrifying seemed like a great break from the literature I would normally read. Unfortunately, I had many issues regarding this book and how it executed certain topics. Countess Frivoleeta is planning the annual Barbaric Ball, THE annual event in Nocturnia. Amelia finds the ball boring – she wants to study Pumpkinology and help poorly pumpkins when she grows up. However, her mother thinks that she needs to learn vampires etiquette. Count Drake had fallen out with King Vladimir, but now he announces he will come to the ball, and will bring his son, Prince Tangine. When the spoilt prices kidnaps Squashy, it is up to Amelia to rescue her beloved pet pumpkin. Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball was Waterstones Book of the Month in October 2017. Amelia Fang would rather hang out with her pet pumpkin Squashy and her friends Florence the yeti (DON’T CALL HER BEAST!) and Grimaldi the reaper than dance at her parents’ annual Barbaric Ball. When the King’s spoiled son Tangine captures Squashy, Amelia and her friends must escape the party to plan a daring rescue! But they begin to realise things in Nocturnia may not be quite what they seem. Ahead of time Amelia has to show the prince around her school where he acts very stuffily towards them all and when he has dinner with the whole family pre barbaric ball, he acts entitled and ends up taking Amelia's Squashy, her friend!