He deals with bullies, has girl troubles, friend troubles, and homework. “I think the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod books appeal to kids because Vlad is just like them. “In most novels, vampires are wealthy and good-looking, and they live in beautiful homes,” she says. Maureen Sullivan, executive editor at Dutton Children’s Books, edits the Vlad Tod series. “I think it might have been Heather who has said that the books are for people who don’t like Twilight because they aren’t real romantic, and that they’re also for people who do like Twilight because they have the whole vampire thing going on.”

And lots of readers like her different spin-a boy vampire’s point of view,” she notes. “The characters have real teen problems, but Heather uses humor to introduce that.

“It’s like she’s a rock star and it’s nice that the kids respond to her that way.” Erwin believes that the Vlad Tod titles have a fairly broad appeal. “The kids just love Heather and she’s terrific with them,” says Erwin.

Charles, Mo., has hosted the increasingly popular local author three times since the series launched. Vicki Erwin, owner of Main Street Books in St. Another major online effort includes running an author video and a video book trailer as well as t-shirt giveaways on, which is expected to deliver over one million impressions.īrewer (who refers to herself as Auntie Heather in her communications with Minions) has been on the road over the past several months promoting Vlad, making stops in Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Kansas City and at several spots in her hometown of St. The online arm of this promotion included the creation of an official Web site, which contains excerpts, author Q&As and book trailers a banner ad on and a video ad on TV.

There are currently more than 235,000 Chronicles of Vladimir Tod books in print, across all formats.įor book three, Dutton set about increasing the Vlad Tod “Minion Horde” by making Tenth Grade Bleeds a lead title in its “Darken Your Summer Days” campaign, which spotlights several of the publisher’s paranormal YA titles. Tenth Grade Bleeds, the third volume in the series, hit stores June 25 and according to Lauri Hornik, president and publisher of Dial and Dutton Children’s Books, it has already shipped “nearly twice as many copies” as its predecessor, Ninth Grade Slays (April 2008), representing a significant build since Vlad’s 2007 debut in Eighth Grade Bites. What Brewer’s Minions also know is that Vlad’s humorous, Every-guy-centric take on blood-sucking legend is something fresh in the currently crowded vampire lit genre. That’s because he’s a vampire (well, technically a half-vampire). As loyal fans (affectionately called Minions) of Heather Brewer’s series The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod (Dutton) well know, school sucks-literally for Vlad.

Twelfth Grade Kills by Heather Brewer