An excellent offbeat start to a gory new series.
Connecticut suburbanites try to survive against an undead horde in this hilarious YA debut.
Thirteen-year-old Luke can’t stand showering, gym class or his older brother, Cody. He’s also short for his age, making him the prime target for a bully named Brian. But, except when it comes to homework, Luke is no delinquent—his mom, raising two boys alone, is a police officer. One day, while she’s on duty, there are news reports that people in nearby Hartford have gone crazy. Could it be from sniffing hallucinogenic bath salts, like Luke heard about in health class? Possibly, which keeps Mom at work for another shift. Later that night, zombies break into their home, and Luke and Cody escape to Mr. Crawford’s house. Their neighbor, a veteran of the first Iraq war, shoots at the flesh eaters, but when this tactic fails to hold back the horde, the brothers head through their besieged neighborhood and end up meeting Luke’s best friend, Travis, and his sister Michelle. From here, the foursome travel toward the center of town, meeting plenty of unlikely allies (and enemies) while trying to reunite with Mom. Authors Grasis and Duffy bring irresistible personality to the undying zombie genre. Luke’s daffy, self-deprecating narration is consistently amusing: “Even from this distance I could tell the [zombies] had a variety of bite marks, ripped skin, and blood all over them. That can’t be sanitary.” Early set pieces are equally flavorful, including a run-in with zombie cows and even a brawl against the undead elderly (dentures play a part). But Grasis and Duffy don’t revel too long in cartoonish mayhem; their survival tale eventually grows serious, and dramatic implications are explored: “I could see that underneath she was somebody’s grandmother. I was killing people—humans!” As readers see the boyish hero grow into a young man, the adventure’s second half more closely follows tales like The Walking Dead, in which a ragtag group slowly expands.
An excellent offbeat start to a gory new series.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-1484886366
Page Count: 168
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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