Stink and the Midnight Zombie Walk

Gr 2–4—Stink and his friends, Sophie and Webster, can't wait to attend the Midnight Zombie Walk at the local bookstore to purchase the latest book in the Nightmare on Zombie Street series. They spend the week prior to the walk creating zombie costumes, having zombie sleepovers, eating zombie lunches, collecting money to purchase copies of the book, and participating in the "Million Minutes of Reading Contest." Educators will appreciate the fact that an extremely active boy is also very engaged in reading. Megan McDonald uses wordplay to create a zombie language in her novel (Candlewick, 2012), starting many words with "Z" and making up totally new words relating to body part humor. Spooky music introduces and concludes the book. At the end of each chapter, there are lists, haikus, and jokes related to facts about zombies. Barbara Rosenblat's narration easily distinguishes male and female characters, but some of the male voices are very similar. A great choice for libraries where the "Stink" or "Captain Underpants" series are popular.—Andria Donnelly, Cedar Lane Elementary, Ashburn, VA