The Little Vampire

The Little Vampire (original title: Der kleine Vampir) is a children's fantasy series by German author Angela Sommer-Bodenburg that follows the adventures of young Tony Peasbody and the child vampire Rudolph Sackville-Bagg (Anton Bohnsack and Rüdiger von Schlotterstein in the original German version, respectively). The series has sold over 12 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. Sommer-Bodenburg states that her "vampire is not a bloodthirsty monster, however, but an affectionate little vampire with fears and foibles who will perhaps help free children of their own fears. The novel, written in 1979, spawned a series of books, and the plot has been adapted to theatre, radio, cinema, and television.



Sommer-Bodenburg wrote the first chapter of The Little Vampire as an experiment to get to see what types of literature could hold the interest of her students. In 1984, she retired from teaching and dedicated herself to painting and writing. She has written more than 40 books for both children and adults, from poetry to novels. She calls the success of the Little Vampire series a "mixed blessing" to her career as an author, stating on her website: "I was pigeon-holed as the author of children's books and, within this pigeon-hole, I was further classified as the author of vampire books.