Der kleine Vampir

Synopsis

Protagonist Anton Bohnsack, an ordinary 9-year-old boy, is fascinated by vampires until befriending one (called Rüdiger) of a vampire clan, the Schlottersteins, who reside in the local cemetery. Little by little, Anton befriends Rüdiger’s younger sister Anna and older brother Lumpi. Anton undertakes frequent nightly “trips” with Rüdiger and Anna, wherein Anton must hide his presence (and his friendship with Rüdiger) from hostile vampires, his own parents, and the fanatic Geiermeier, the cemetery's caretaker.

Main characters

Anton is 9 years old and attends the 3rd grade. He likes reading horror stories, especially vampire stories like those written by Sheridan Le Fanu or Hugh Walpole. After becoming involved in the world of vampires, he goes great lengths to assist both his new friends, Rüdiger and Anna, and their family (who are not fully aware of Anton's friendship with Rüdiger) against potential dangers, including his own parents and especially Geiermeier.

Rüdiger is the second youngest of the Schlotterstein clan, and was turned into a vampire when he was 11. Though mostly only interested in his own benefit, he never abandons his friends. He shows the vampires' world to Anton and meets him as often as possible. He has a lot of respect for his older brother Lumpi and tries to emulate him. There are typical siblings troubles between him and his sister Anna.

Anna is the youngest of the Schlotterstein children and was turned into a vampire at the age of 9. Shortly after Rüdiger met Anton, he introduces Anna to his human friend, starting a close friendship between the two. In fact, both Anna and Anton develop a crush on each other, but their respective natures as human and vampire pose an impenetrable barrier for a more serious relationship.
Initially, Anna was known as "Anna die Zahnlose" ("Anna the Toothless") because she didn't want to become a true vampire and drank milk as a substitute nourishment, though later on she gives in to her true nature, although her affection for Anton still remains strong. In the end of the series, she is appointed the successor of the German vampire leader, Elisabeth die Naschhafte.

Schlotterstein vampires

Rüdiger and Anna's older brother, and the self-proclaimed strongman of his family. He is a very temperamental person, since he became a vampire at the height of his puberty. Although he occasionally makes threatening allusions towards Anton, he is generally on good terms with him and keeps his and his sibling's relationship with him confidential from the remaining Schlottersteins.

Rüdiger and Anna's aunt, and perhaps the most bloodthirsty and relentless of the Schlotterstein vampires, with whom Anton had his own close calls as well. After losing her husband Theodor to Geiermeier, she remains a widow for a long time, but towards the end of the series she falls for Mr. Schwanenhals, the teacher of Anton's dance class and, coupled with his voluntary conversion into a vampire, marries him in the last volume.

Rüdiger and Anna's uncle. Long before the story begins, he was caught playing cards on his coffin by Geiermeier, who subsequently killed him. This event forced the Schlottersteins into moving their coffins into a subterranean crypt beneath the cemetery. Theodor's coffin remains in the crypt, as a cover for a secret emergency exit, and his vampire cloak is lent to Anton on a regular basis for his nocturnal vampire adventures.

The elder matriarch of the Schlotterstein family, and Rüdiger, Anna and Lumpi's grandmother.

Sabine's husband, and Rüdiger and Anna's grandfather.

These two vampires are the son and daughter-in-law of Sabine die Schreckliche and therefore Rüdiger, Anna and Lumpi's parents.

Humans

Robert Anton Bohnsack, a jokester and shipping company worker, and his wife Helga, a rather temperamental schoolteacher, are perhaps Anton's greatest obstacles in his new life with the vampires. Initially they do not believe that Anton's new friends (Rüdiger and Anna) are vampires, although they find the latters' mode of dress rather peculiar. However, after an incident in which Anna was inadvertently photographed but did not appear in the picture, they both begin to take the matter a bit more seriously, even if they still do not fully believe in the existence of vampires. Like his son Anton, Mr. Bohnsack was named after his own father (and Anton's grandfather).

The keeper of the local old cemetery and the self-declared nemesis of the Schlotterstein vampires. After encountering Uncle Theodor by chance and killing him, Geiermeier has been waging his private war with the vampires ever since, a conflict in which Anton often has to interfere for the benefit of his friends. His anti-vampire habits include garlic as part of his regular diet, and an armament of wooden stakes carried on his nighttime patrols.

A gardener hailing from Stuttgart who was hired as Geiermeier's assistant for hunting down vampires. Unlike Geiermeier, Schnuppermaul is somewhat dimwitted, less obsessive and has an extreme cleanliness quirk, making him a comic relief figure contrasting his partner and employer. He unwittingly becomes friends with Lumpi, and even after discovering the latter's true nature, they retain their friendship at the end of the series.

Schwartenfeger is a psychologist. He first appears when Anton's parent decide to send their son to him to cure him of his fascination of vampires, but it turns out that Schwartenfeger has actually developed a program to help vampires in overcoming their aversion to sunlight, which he believes to be a psychological condition rather than a physiological one. Rüdiger eventually becomes one of his patients.

Von Rant makes his first appearance as a patient for Schwartenfeger's vampire desensibilization program. Although he appears as a vampire, von Rant (whose name is a wordgame for "ignorant") is actually a university professor named August Piepenschnurz who is in cohorts with Geiermeier. He woos Aunt Dorothee and tries to win the trust of the Schlotterstein children, but his masquerade is exposed thanks to Anton's efforts.

Other vampires

The cousin of Rüdiger and Anna from their uncle's side. A spoiled, manipulative and highly arrogant girl, she fled from Transylvania to Germany when her family was destroyed by a band of vampire hunters, seeking sanctuary with her aunt's family. She quickly becomes the romantic interest for Rüdiger, but she expresses more interest in Anton instead. Only after she bites Anton and drinks his blood to make him her slave in the series' last volume does Rüdiger finally overcome his infatuation and break up with her for Anton's sake.

The legendary vampire has several appearances in the series as the overlord of the world's vampires. He eventually becomes a teacher for the Schlotterstein children, but he ultimately fails in his task.

The leader of the German fraction of the world's vampires. At the end of the series, she chooses Anna von Schlotterstein to be her successor.

Two youngs vampires who are Lumpi's best friends and members of his Vampire Men's Club and Vampire Men's Music Association, regularly organizing bowling tournaments or nail treatment competitions.

Reception

Der kleine Vampir has proved quite successful both domestically and internationally. Over 12 million of these children’s books have been sold, and they were translated into more than 30 languages. The little vampire’s adventures were also published in the form of audio books, comics, movies and musicals.

Adaptations

TV series

Films