Team Human was a refreshing vampire novel filled with humor and wonderful dialog. The narrator is Mel who is American Born Chinese and the person in the group who is the problem solver. (She is the problem solver whether or not her friends think they have problems.) Her best friend Cathy is smart, interested in history and literature, and shy. When Francis, a vampire, comes to their high school, Cathy is fascinated and falls in love with him. This is a problem for Mel. She has a lot of prejudice against vampires even though they no longer prey on humans. When Cathy says that she has accepted Francis's offer to turn her to vampire, Mel is determined to make her friend change her mind. Meanwhile, Mel's friend Anna is hurting too. Her father, a vampire therapist, has abandoned his family to run away with one of his vampire patients. Both Anna and her mother are very changed by this experience and Mel wants to find a way to help. But something about Dr. Saunders' leaving seems very odd to Mel. How can a caring father leave his family and not communicate with his daughter except by sending a few text messages? Why is Mrs. Saunders afraid of Francis? Is Mel making up difficulties or is something really going on?And then there is Kit, a young human raised by vampires, who challenges most of Mel's assumptions about vampires. Together they try to find out what happened to Dr. Saunders and have lively discussions about whether or not Cathy should go through transition and become a vampire. Kit, who had assumed that he would go through transition and become a vampire as soon as he could, has some decisions to make too after spending time with Mel.This was a great story about friendship and choices and about growing and changing. I laughed and I cried. I can't wait to add this one to my high school media center collection and share it with my teen readers. I also look forward to anything else Ms. Larbalestier and Ms. Brennan write together.
