Good morning everyone! I hope you are all well!

Today, we’ve got an extra special post coming to you all the way from author Jordan Kopy. Jordan’s book Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters came out recently and it’s brilliant! My kids are absolutely loving it! I can’t wait for you all to read and enjoy this! The perfect book for the spooky season! Jordan is here to give us a a spooky re-telling the story of when she was 8 and saw a vampire! I really enjoyed reading this piece: it’s fun and different! (I know I’ve certainly never seen a vampire haha!)

“The first rule of the Monstrous League of Monsters is: Keep monsters hidden from humans. But when zombie George and his cat companion Bandit find an abandoned baby, they can’t leave her to be eaten by hobgoblins. So they spirit her home where she quickly becomes part of the family. Fast-forward ten years, and young Theodora doesn’t seem too scarred by her monstrous upbringing. But now a series of anonymous letters suggest that someone is about to reveal their secret. If Theodora doesn’t act fast, she may lose her family for ever…“

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“Monsters are real, Papa.”

“Hm,” my grandfather replies. He isn’t looking at me, but cutting off the tops of a handful of strawberries and placing them around a small mound of sugar, my favorite.

“They are,” I insist. “I saw one last night. A vampire.”

“Hm,” my grandfather repeats.

We’ve had this conversation many times. I know he doesn’t believe me – no grown-up does – but I also know what I saw:

I’d been lying in bed, wide awake. It was dark except for the sliver of moonlight streaming in through the window. I was bored; my mom caught me reading under the covers and took my flashlight, and now I had nothing to do but watch the shadows dance along the walls. I should have brought a back-up – schoolgirl error. It was then that I heard it: a tapping.

I freeze.

There it is again: tap, tap, tap. My eyes fly to the window. There’s something there, but what? I can’t quite make it out. It’s probably nothing; a branch, a squirrel. But what if it’s not? I pull the blankets all the way up to my chin, so that only my eyes are visible.

Tap, tap, tap.  

And then I see it. It isn’t a branch or a squirrel; it is a monster – a vampire, to be exact. There’s no mistaking the marble-white cast of his skin, the twin tunnels that are his eyes, the razor-sharp fangs extending past his bottom lip. I shudder, but don’t scream; I read somewhere that vampires can’t enter a residence unless you invite them in, and I won’t.

“Jordan,” whispers a voice from across the room.

I jump.

“Are you still up?”

I sigh, relieved; it’s just my mom checking up on me.

“Try to get some sleep. You have school tomorrow.”

I don’t reply. I glance at the window, but there’s nothing there; the vampire is gone.  

“Eat,” says my grandfather, jerking me back to the present.

I pop a sugar-dipped strawberry into my mouth. “Vampires eat blood,” I say knowledgeably.

“Vampires don’t exist.”

“They do. And so do witches.”

At that moment, my grandmother enters the kitchen, clutching a broom in her bony hand. My grandfather and I exchange a look, but wisely say nothing.

Over two decades later, I still remember the terror – and thrill – of being eight-years-old, convinced that monsters exist. My imagination would run wild with the what-ifs and the maybes and the could-bes. Today, my imagination still runs wild, and I still love the idea that monsters are out there, roaming the earth. It came as no surprise to anyone – least of all my grandfather – that my debut novel, Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters, explores a world in which monsters exist:

Theodora Hendrix is a very unusual kid growing up in a very unusual family: when she was just a baby, Theodora was abandoned in a hobgoblin-infested cemetery. Zombie Georgie and vampire-cat Bandit rescue her, spiriting her away to 13 Battington Lane, home to the Monstrous League of Monsters. The kind-hearted monsters adopt Theodora, risking Headquarters’ wrath if they’re ever discovered. They get away with it, too – until a series of anonymous letters arrive, threatening to reveal their secret. Now, ten-year-old Theodora, joined by Sherman, the talking tarantula, and her best friend Dexter, is on a mission to discover the letter-writer; if she fails, she’ll lose her monster family – not to mention her freedom – forever.

I had an absolute blast writing Theodora Hendrix, and I hope everyone has a blast reading it! And remember, if you hear a tapping at your window, it is most definitely a vampire – don’t invite him in!

–      Jordan Kopy

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A massive thank you to Jordan for writing this piece! It’s a whole load of fun! I hope you guys enjoyed it too! Thanks too to Walker Books for inviting me to be part of this blog tour! Always a load of fun!

Please check out Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters! As I say, it’s going down an absolute storm in my classroom!

Why not check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour while you’re here? I think we’re in for a lot of spooky fun!

S x