Suck It Up (Hardcover)

by Brian Meehl (Author)
Key Phrases: mother forest, six forms, vampire slaying, Sister Flora, Blood Lite, Worldwide Out Day (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up—Morning McCobb is graduating from the IVLeague (International Vampire League) Academy, where students are schooled to be Leaguers (vampires who live peacefully though secretly among mortals and subsist on animal blood) instead of Loners (those who follow the old ways). A forever-16-year-old misfit among his perfect classmates—the slightly older "hunks and hotties" usually chosen to become vampires—Morning is a SangFU (blood flub up); he accidentally received the "virus" while being bled dry by a Loner. He's also a vegan who drinks only a soy blood substitute. When he's offered the opportunity to be the first Leaguer to come out of the closet to the world and show mortals that vampires are just another special-needs minority, he jumps at the chance to end his outcast status and perhaps fulfill his one-time dream of becoming a firefighter. Things are going well until he becomes attracted to Portia, his PR specialist's outspoken daughter, and begins to experience true bloodlust for the first time. Meanwhile, a menacing Loner is determined to stop Morning from succeeding. Not quite as dark as most vampire novels, Meehl's story is filled with humor, quirky characters, light romance, mild suspense, and a lot of fun. A strong addition to a very popular genre.—Sharon Senser McKellar, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Meehl creates an original and light variation on the current trend in brooding teen vampire protagonists with Morning McCobb, a geeky, 16-year-old, New York orphan doomed to immortality. Morning’s “turning” from mortal to vampire was an accident; usually, only the young and beautiful are selected to join the vampiric community. The leader of the International Vampire League selects Morning to be the first vampire to out himself to humans, or Lifers. Thus begins a mutually manipulative relationship involving Morning, ace publicist Penny Dredful, and her 16-year-old daughter, Portia, a beautiful would-be filmmaker. Puns abound in this lengthy, complicated romp that will appeal particularly to fans of Terry Pratchett and Piers Anthony’s books. Current cultural references and teen dialogue will eventually date this title, but for the moment, teens will find it delightful. Grades 8-11. --Debbie Carton

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; 1St Edition edition (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385733003
• ISBN-13: 978-0385733007
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,894 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, May 13, 2008

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

At sixteen, Morning McCobb is a recent graduate of the IVL. No, Morning isn't a genius. He is a sixteen-year-old vampire just graduating from the International Vampire League. But this League of Vampires isn't what you would expect; their motto is to "drink culture, not life." They exist peacefully by blending in with humanity -- that is, until now.

Morning is going to be the first to "come out of the closet." He's the kind of vampire the League has been waiting for. Young, nonthreatening, the kid is a sangv! Sangv translation: blood virgin, meaning he's never drunk human blood. In fact, Morning has never drank blood belonging to a living organism, human or animal. He drinks Blood-lite, a soy-based blood substitute!

To help with his coming-out process, Morning is teamed up with Penny Dredful, the owner of PR Agency. It is her responsibility to turn Morning's fifteen-minutes of fame into 24/7 coverage. Credibility is the least of their worries; once Morning pulls a couple of CD's (cell differentiation) and turns from a boy into a dolphin, back into a boy, and then into a tree and back again, most people are believers. But not everyone is a Morning McCobb fan. There is a group of vampires called Loners who haven't conformed to the Leaguer way and still feed on humans. They want Morning eliminated before he reveals all of their secrets.

Is the world ready for Morning McCobb, a real vampire?

SUCK IT UP is another rendition of the growing array of young adult vampire novels. Meehl's take on the vampire lore is interesting, refreshing, and humorous! Debunking the myth of vampires and sun as "solar phobia," as well as their fear of garlic -- hello, bad breath! I also enjoyed the references to superheroes and comic characters, being a fan of the genre myself! Morning wants to be a superhero as well as a firefighter, after his experiences from 9/11. The characters are original, although I didn't hold a strong liking to any of them. Overall, SUCK IT UP was a funny and original. This is a book that I think boys as well as girls would like. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy the vampire sub-genre!

Reviewed by: The Story Siren

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to sink your teeth into, July 19, 2008

By	Renee C. Mulhare "matrixrefugee77" (MA United States) - See all my reviews

Most teen vampire novels drip with dark, gothic atmospheres or devolve into needless whining angst, but this one definately fits the "perky goth" tag. Morning McCobb is anything but your typical dark, brooding teen vampire prince: if anything, he's the antithesis, a lovable, delightfully geeky lover of comicbook superheroes. Among the young members of the cleverly-named IV League, he's a bit of a misfit who falls over himself when he shapeshifts, but his cheerful outlook keep him from falling into the pit of self-pity. The ambitious head of the IV League, a covert organization of vampires who have weaned themselves off the need for human blood, grooms him to be the poster-boy for "Worldwide Out Day" -- his pet project to ennable League vampires to come out of the "selva obscura", the dark forest they have lived within for so long, and mingle with "Lifers", or ordinary humans -- and Morning accepts the role reluctantly at first. But the schemes of a "Loner", a rogue vampire, named DeThanatos, nearly thwart this plan for the reunion of humans and vampires, and endanger Morning's relationship with his PR rep's would-be sophisticated filmmaker daughter.

Slapstick comedy, mischievous turns of phrases, playful tweaks of the vampire mythos, noble derring-do, charmingly awkward romance -- there's a little bit of everything in this book. The pace is a little more slap-dash than I would have liked, but that fits well with the superhero tropes (and comic book references, from X-Men to Superman to heavier material like Alan Moore's Watchmen) that author Brian Meehl liberally sprinkles throughout the story. I'm looking forward to seeing a graphic novel adaptation or sequel to this!

5.0 out of 5 stars At last!, January 29, 2009

By	Christy Guerra - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At last I'm reading it! I can't put it down! It's so much fun! Nice to revisit New York on the coat-tail of a vampire.