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A review by inkblotmoon
Rise of ZomBert by Kara LaReau, Ryan Andrews
4.0
I received this as an early review copy from Candlewick Press - the very first one that I've done - and have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. It's been a loooong time since I've read middle grade books as my kids are now well past that age and my own writing pursuits have taken me out of that genre, and I really wasn't sure what to expect.
This is a truly clever book -- one which will appeal to a wider age range than the target audience, I'm sure. The main (human) character, Mellie, is very relatable and the trope of 'weird, smart kid' is well established early on, but without it being pedantic. She's smart, self-aware and has a great sense of humour - I particularly enjoy her wry observations about her family and their ongoing blog. There's best-friend Danny and the school bully and many of the recognizable trials and tribulations facing middle grade kids.
And of course, there's Bert, or Zombert, as he comes to be known. I have fondness for ugly, scruffy cats, and Bert reminds me very much of a feral tomcat who used to sometimes live in our garage.:) Bert is mildly disturbing in his fondness for eating only the heads of his prey, but being a cat, how can you hold that against him? And he clearly has big plans to liberate his fellow inmates of the YummCo laboratory, so that makes him hero material.
Complete with perfectly detestable villains and the ever-present mystery of what's really going on at YummCo, this promises to be an excellent series for kids who like a bit of mild gore with their animal stories.
I'm not convinced that 10 year old me who loved all animals would be too thrilled with the headless frogs and squirrels and dragonflies (actually, adult me wasn't super keen on that either!), but I assume there must be sturdier constitutions than mine out there. I would hope there isn't too much delay between releases as there are a lot of unanswered questions once you get to the end and I would be super impatient to read the next one!
Overall, an enjoyable and engaging read, if not a bit squeam-inducing, so cautions if your potential reader is of a sensitive nature.
This is a truly clever book -- one which will appeal to a wider age range than the target audience, I'm sure. The main (human) character, Mellie, is very relatable and the trope of 'weird, smart kid' is well established early on, but without it being pedantic. She's smart, self-aware and has a great sense of humour - I particularly enjoy her wry observations about her family and their ongoing blog. There's best-friend Danny and the school bully and many of the recognizable trials and tribulations facing middle grade kids.
And of course, there's Bert, or Zombert, as he comes to be known. I have fondness for ugly, scruffy cats, and Bert reminds me very much of a feral tomcat who used to sometimes live in our garage.:) Bert is mildly disturbing in his fondness for eating only the heads of his prey, but being a cat, how can you hold that against him? And he clearly has big plans to liberate his fellow inmates of the YummCo laboratory, so that makes him hero material.
Complete with perfectly detestable villains and the ever-present mystery of what's really going on at YummCo, this promises to be an excellent series for kids who like a bit of mild gore with their animal stories.
I'm not convinced that 10 year old me who loved all animals would be too thrilled with the headless frogs and squirrels and dragonflies (actually, adult me wasn't super keen on that either!), but I assume there must be sturdier constitutions than mine out there. I would hope there isn't too much delay between releases as there are a lot of unanswered questions once you get to the end and I would be super impatient to read the next one!
Overall, an enjoyable and engaging read, if not a bit squeam-inducing, so cautions if your potential reader is of a sensitive nature.