UNDEAD ED

Bad enough being a newly undead nerd...but Ed's renegade left arm is trying to kill him!

After several strange near-accidents, 13-year-old Ed Bagley wakes up dead. Before that shock wears off, he finds his left arm missing—and then out of nowhere it attacks him! Once he escapes his possessed left arm, he meets Max Moon, a teen werewolf who has been designated his "Dead Buddy." Thank goodness, Max can introduce Ed to Jemini and Evil Clive, who (at least according to Max) have some answers to newly zombified Ed's questions. Suffice to say, Ed is underwhelmed by the answers, but he is thankful for the help in avoiding the fat baby ghouls and, most importantly, in finding his arm, beating it and reattaching it. British children's author David Lee Stone attempts a third leap across the pond under a second pseudonym with, as before, mixed results. (Writing as "David Grimstone," he created the Gladiator Boy series with James de la Rue.) The British-to-American translation is inconsistent and may confuse, and the illustrations often don't match the descriptions in the text. Fans of silly, gory zombie fiction can do better, but the large type and brisk pace make this a possibility for the more reluctant readers among them. Two sequels out already in the U.K. may follow.

Discriminating readers may want to look elsewhere.