Romeo and Juliet...and Vampires!

 We have just completed the first full week of 2nd quarter here at EJH, and that means our 9th graders are busy with Shakespeare!  Specifically, Romio and Juliet.  (Because you can clearly never get enough teenage angst in a junior high).  And I won't be offering my critique of this master of the English language, other than to say you must read it if you have not.

But I thought that I'd make one of our Language Arts teachers completely crazy by pointing out the lastest "mash-up," Romio & Juliet & Vampires.  Hilarious!  (If you want to browse inside the book, click here).

According to Goodreads, in this version "the Capulets and the Montagues have some deep and essential differences. Blood differences. Of course, the Capulets can escape their vampire fate, and the Montagues can try not to kill their undead enemies. But at the end of the day, their blood feud is unstoppable. So it's really quite a problem when Juliet, a vampire-to-be, and Romeo, the human who should be hunting her, fall desperately in love. What they don't realize is how deadly their love will turn out to be—or what it will mean for their afterlives..."

Mash-ups, combining classic works of fiction with popular genres (vampires, zombies, etc.), have become all the rage in the last few years.  Some notable examples include "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," and "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter."  To be honest, I haven't read any of these mash-ups as I am not a fan of the vampire and zombie genre to begin with.  And being a science major, I'll be honest that classic works of fiction aren't typically my thing either.  (I know, I'm a horrible librarian)!

But it is a fun concept, and obviously popular.  "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" was one of the top 3 sellers at our school's book fair last spring.  I would love to hear from anyone that has read a mash-up...what do you think?  As good as the original?