Review by Booklist Review
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.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
From the creator of Sir Fartsalot comes this goofy tale of a teddy/bunny/zombie-doll come to life. Stanley first buys the thing at a creepy yard sale, then he must save his classmates from the rampaging dolly. Relying heavily on the current popularity of all-things-zombie, Bolger creates an unsurprising but entertaining story that will amuse readers looking for something only slightly scary. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
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) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
