Zombiekins
All is well in Dementedyville, U.S.A. That angry mob wielding pitchforks and torches? Why, they're just going over to the yard sale at the spooky house owned by Widow Imavitch! That's just where fourth-grader Stanley is headed, too, and he leaves with Zombiekins—a Frankensteinian stuffed animal that is part bear, part bunny, part lizard . . . and ALL EVIL! At school the next day, Zombiekins' bite turns the class tattletale into an undead monster. (“In some ways it's an improvement,” admits Stanley.) When the plush terror escapes, no realm is safe—not music class, the playground, or the teachers' lounge. Even the little kids have been transformed into “kinderzombies.” Humorous zombie books for middle-grade readers are piling up faster than severed limbs these days, and though Bolger's entry doesn't add much that's new to the canon, it's a fast and funny read helped along by Blecha's art, which provides some G-rated goo and gore. This will have readers shouting such zombie catchphrases as hrnrgrghnrr and yaarghhh. Well, maybe not, but they'll have fun anyway. Grades 4-6. --Daniel Kraus