Dracula

by Bram Stoker

Twilight and Vampires That Sparkle
When you teach Dracula, Twilight is going to come up. There's no escaping it. You'll either have a Twilight fan who thinks Bram Stoker can't possibly live up to Stephenie Meyer, or you'll hear the comparison from a Twi-hater who's eager for a more classic horror story. Whether Twilight comes up in a positive or negative way, you WILL hear about it, so you should direct your students to the Shmoop Twilight guide. Your students will have a great time comparing and contrasting the stories, no matter which one they prefer.

A Different Kind of Undead Monster
Who would win in a fight: Dracula or Frankenstein's monster? You might ask this question just to spark some amusing debate among your students, but in fact, Dracula and Frankenstein have a lot in common. Both books have more than one narrator, both are written in the form of letters and/or diary entries, and both have undead monsters as central characters. (They're also both super-famous, obviously.) On the other hand, Frankenstein's monster is a heckuva lot more sympathetic than the world's most famous vampire. After immersing themselves in the horror story and complex structure of Dracula, your students will be more than ready to dive into the structurally simpler but more thematically complex Frankenstein.