Zombiekins

by Kevin Bolger, Aaron Blecha (Illustrator)

Overview

Stanley Nudelman turns the boring town of Dementedyville on its head when he buys a mysterious toy at his neighbor's yard sale. Sure, Zombiekins looks cuddly and creepy-cute - but expose him to moonlight, and strange things happen. When Stanley brings Zombiekins to school, he unleashes the worst zombie plague in fourth-grade history! Can Stanley find the courage to save the day before his teachers notice the class is full of zombies? Or will he soon join the ranks of the snuggily UNDEAD?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595143679
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/18/2011
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	880L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 11 Years

About the Author

Kevin Bolger teaches reading and writing to children from grades 2 to 6 in Ottawa, Canada. He spends every workday reading great kids books with actual kids, which naturally made him want to make one of his own. Books, that is.

As a writer, he has published short humor pieces with McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and several Canadian dailies, and book reviews with the Toronto Star and The Globe & Mail.

Editorial Reviews

Typical school days for Stanley and his friend Miranda quickly meet with disaster after Stanley buys Zombiekins at a yard sale from a woman named Widow Imavitch! Stanley fails to heed her warning about Zombiekins not being an ordinary toy and he fails to listen to what the woman says about how to use and care for Zombiekins. So when the moonlight hits Zombiekins, it turns into a creature capable of committing havoc. Stanley is unaware of what Zombiekins can do so he heads to school, where he is misunderstood by his teachers and bullied by a sixth grader, with Zombiekins in tow. At school Zombiekins stalks, chases and bites kids, and turns them into zombies. On the playground zombie child Felicity devours a soccer ball. Another kid bites the head off a doll, another swallows a box of crayons, and one eats a horribly moldy sandwich. Finally all the kids but Stanley and Miranda are zombies so Stanley and Miranda barricade themselves in the teachers' lounge for their own safety. Unbeknownst to them, Zombiekins has picked the same room. Stanley and Miranda face a horrible fate until Miranda remembers the Halloween candy Widow Imavitch had tossed to them as they left her yard sale. Miranda pelts the zombies with the candy which, immediately upon being eaten, returns all the kids to their human state. Stanley acts quickly to ensure that Zombiekins' mischief stops, and it does—until the moonlight hits Zombiekins again. The strange, disgusting Zombie behavior displayed in the action and illustrations will give young readers a thrill. So will the quirky humor and word play deftly woven by the author who also penned Sir Fatsalot Hunts the Booger. Reviewer: Nancy Garhan Attebury

Children's Literature - Nancy Garhan Attebury

Gr 3–5—Onomatopoeia, puns, and alliteration rule the school in this ghastly gala of gleefully goofy gore by Kevin Bolger (Razorbill, 2010). Stanley Nudelman, a cautious fourth grader, discovers a strange stuffed toy when he and his best friend, Miranda, stop in at a Mrs. Imavitch's yard sale. She reminds Stanley to read the instructions for his creepy new pal, but of course, he does not. The author builds suspense, and then tears it back down, only to build it up again, and tear it down, over and over as the spooky creature—half bunny, half teddy, all bloodthirsty—scares the stuffing out Stanley and Miranda during a couple of extremely eventful days in the little town of Dementedyville. Narrator Johnny Heller is in rare form, moaning and groaning, milking every strangled consonant and mangled vowel, impersonating teachers and students alive and undead, and bringing Bolger's sound effects to eerie life. In fact, due to Heller's excellent work, listening to Zombiekins can be a little scary in places—which cannot be said of the print version. This short and entertaining audiobook will be especially fun at Halloween—and juicy words like macabre, revivified, and piteous will help children build a basic zombie vocabulary.—Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, MD

School Library Journal

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)

Kirkus Reviews