Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Children’s Book?????

Stop the presses and hold the phones….

Guys… there’s a Buffy book for children and I am FLIPPING OUT right now!! You do NOT want to miss this!! 

Doing some writing at the book store last week, I decided to check out the children’s section to see if anything new stuck my fancy. I found a few, fun books for the kids, mostly easy readers, school stuff, I saw a handful of Halloween books, same as last year… no biggie.

I went to the picture book section to look for anything by my new favorite children’s writer, but not seeing anything, almost turned to walk away and out of the corner of my eyes, my brain registered a familiar font… a familiar letter… a word that was unmistakable, but didn’t belong… I blinked to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but it really was there!

Sitting in the children’s section of picture books surrounded by sweet, fluffy bears and sweeping, pastel watercolor clouds and animals… was this dark, black, red and purple book with the title in bright, big letters… 

“ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS!?” I shouted… much louder than necessary in a quiet, nearly-empty bookstore at 9:30pm. Catching a few confused looks from strangers, I nearly ran to the display, picked one up and squealed. Yes, an audible squeal… complete with jumping up and down and laughing like a crazy person.

I walked directly to check out, not even cracking it open. I knew I didn’t need to.

It’s BUFFY FOR KIDS. What else do I need to know???

A few days later, (we were busy that week) I got it out and read it to the kids. Both of them loved it and asked me to read it again, which I did…

Buffy’s book for children tells a sweet story about an 8 year old Buffy who is still afraid of the dark. With her pals Xander and Willow by her side, she conquers her fears and finds out the monsters aren’t as bad as she had thought.

It’s a sweet little story inspiring bravery and the power of friendship, dedicated to “all the tough girls who are also afraid of the dark”. I loved the many, many show references that I won’t give away, but I admit, I teared up when she talked about her mom coming to check on them.

Based, of course, on the series created by Joss Whedon, the color-drenched pages are illustrated by Kim Smith and it’s put out in the “Pop Classics” series by Quirk Books.

Anyone who loves this show as much as I do has certain expectations… I won’t share it all because I don’t want to give it away, I’ll just say – there are several familiar faces.

I did a little digging last night to find “Buffy” is not where this ends, either. Quirk has created a series of some of our best-loved subculture/80’s and 90’s stories including X-Files, Back to the Future, Home Alone, Karate Kid and even E.T.. to start!

This one being an absolute win in every way, I am ready to buy the entire, ongoing collection!!