Zombie in Love
(Zombie in Love #1)

Zombies have filtered down from YA to middle readers, and now there's a picture book for the youngest zombie fans. Campbell, a comics and video game artist, gives Mortimer the zombie just the right degree of repellant charm--he has pet worms who play cards, a headstone for a computer monitor, and a goggle-eyed dog who gnaws on a hand that may or may not be real. Mortimer's gifts for girls fall flat (a still-beating heart, a ring on a disembodied finger), and he fears he won't find a date for Cupid's Ball. Nobody answers his personal ad, written to the tune of Rupert Holmes's "Escape" ("If you like taking walks in the graveyard/ and falling down in the rain"); it might be his smile, to which Campbell devotes a closeup--greenish, with fuzzy peg teeth. After rejections that will make lovelorn readers flinch, Mildred the girl zombie shows up at last, and she's "drop-dead gorgeous." DiPucchio (The Sandwich Swap) exchanges zombie horror for romantic agony; instead of fearing him, the thin-skinned will suffer right along with hapless Mortimer. Ages 4-8. (Aug.)

Gr 1-3--Mortimer the zombie is lonely and desperately wants a sweetheart, but every time he reaches out to a human girl, disaster strikes. The wormy chocolates disgust, the real heart terrifies, and the ring on a severed finger scares. He just doesn't seem to have that devil-may-care romantic dash. He places a personal ad, and, on the night of the Cupid's Ball, he waits and waits for the right girl to arrive. Finally, she does and makes a disastrous entrance, knocking over the punch bowl. She smiles at him with the same Frankensteinlike teeth he has and his heart melts. This silly story features loads of sight gags that sharp-eyed children will enjoy. When the zombie is working out and his arm falls off, chuckles are guaranteed. The color cartoon illustrations are over-the-top, which makes the comic effects even more obvious. This giggler will grab those children who like their zombies funny.--Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA