A Straw for Two

""Ever since my encounter with Draculink, the ink-drinking vampire, I've been drinking books like crazy,"" confesses Odilon, a bookstore owner's son with a literal thirst for reading. In The Ink Drinker, Sanvoisin and Matje's vampire spoof, Odilon suffered a bite on the arm from Draculink. Now, the boy cannot resist jamming a red-striped straw into books and sipping their thrilling adventures, which leaves their pages devoid of marks. ""The hard part is that I can't share my straw with anyone,"" he laments. ""I'm very lonely."" Intending to ask Draculink if biting a girl would make her an inkdrinker like him, Odilon runs away in terror upon discovering a child-size casket in Draculink's crypt--presumably meant for him. Readers will soon suspect otherwise. As Odilon entertains thoughts of biting his fetchingly Gothic new classmate, Carmilla, Sanvoisin hints that she is no ordinary girl: she seems to have sucked the ink from Odilon's homework, and she heads for the cemetery when school's out. Matje styles Carmilla as a pale urchin in a black dress, the ideal person to share ""a straw for two"" with blond, bespectacled Odilon. This sequel's focus on amorous yearning could ward off a few of the first book's fans (adults will recognize a few sexual innuendoes), but most will get a kick out of Odilon's furtive nighttime escapades. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)