ZOMBIEKINS

Dementedyville is a town just like any other. And just like any town that’s just like any other, there’s one spooky house the kids won’t go near. In Dementedyville, that’s the Widow Imavitch’s house. However, when she has a yard sale, Stanley Nudelman and his best friend Miranda check it out (with a crowd of townsfolk). Stanley buys Zombiekins, an adorable yet repulsive stuffed bunnybear…and ignores the Widow’s entreaty to read the instructions. When Stanley takes Zombiekins to school, the moonlight from a science movie awakens it, and its bite starts a zombie plague. Can Stanley and Miranda dodge Mr. Baldengrumpy, their teacher, long enough to cure their schoolmates? Heck, can they survive? Canadian author Bolger’s silly zombie spoof will tickle the funny bone and satisfy the gross-out quotient of any reader, reluctant or otherwise. Blecha’s black-and-white illustrations, some supplying punch lines set up in the text, are an added bonus. If running from zombies gets a bit old by the close, the cheeky humor will hold interest. The whole thing’s worth the hilarious stuffed-animal slaughter at the outset. (Funny horror. 8-12)