Zombies are making a comeback in kids literature. Sure they have been around in Young Adult books for a while now, an offshoot of the vampire books, but even the younger set can now get a taste for the undead. While they can border on gross and are a little bit creepy, authors have found a way to use humor to take the fright factor out and leave us with some well timed chuckles.
So lets give the undead some love. This week two of the books I am profiling, Case File 13 and My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish have knee slapping funny action. They are guarenteed to provide guffaws.
My last book, Dead City is great for middle grade kids and has plenty of action and humor, but stays far away from the slapstick comedy. I love that the heroine is a girl, so even the females can kick a little zombie tushie! I was very impressed with the start of this series, so it is one to watch.
To see all my selections this week to help your kids prepare for the zombie apocalypse, visit my website at www.onegreatbook.com Now wouldn't you hate for them to face that unprepared?
Title: Case File 13: Zombie Kid
Author: J. Scott Savage
Target: Grades 4-7
Series: Yes
What this book is about:
Three friends have an unusually strong obsession with monsters and the supernatural. When one of the boys, Nick, finds out his recently deceased great aunt was a Zombie Queen, he can’t wait to investigate. However, in doing so, he comes across an amulet that turns him into a Zombie. Will he and his friends be
able to lift the curse or is he doomed to loose body parts at an alarmingly increasing rate?
Why I love this book:
Just a great start to a new series. It has all the fear and creepiness of zombies, tempered with laugh out loud humor and non stop action. Now if you told me that Zombies and funny could work well in a kids book, I might have called you a liar. However, I stand corrected.
If your kids are interested in folklore at all, the tidbits of history sprinkled throughout the book are a lot of fun. The book has twists and turns that will keep kids guessing and one of my favorite parts was the commentary at the top of every chapter. Each chapter starts you off with sayings like “Can you really have too many cemetery chapters in a scary story?” or “The chapter in which we discover what the heck is going on.”
Who this book is for:
Great book for kids who like the suspense of a creepy story, but with plenty of humor so that it is never scary.
Final thoughts:
Zombies have never been so fun!
