Review: Zombie Girl Invasion by: By De Kenyon
If R.L. Stine has taught us anything, it’s that kids will start voraciously reading horror as soon as their little brains can process the printed word. Horror for kids is different. It’s creepy, sometimes terrifying, but with an innocence. Most are from the point-of-view of a child, and that innocence changes the perspective of any horror concept. De Kenyon’s “Zombie Girl Invasion” uses that perspective, focusing on Neil, an apparently elementary school-aged boy, and Max, a little zombie girl who becomes his unlikely friend. Unlikely, because (understandably) Neil hates zombies, and, to top it off, Neil hates girls.
The zombies in “Zombie Girl Invasion” are the brain-eating type, and they are a part of Neil and his parents’ existence, to the point where Neil is hardly fazed by the sight of Max crawling out from under his bushes. What shocks him is the fact that she’s a girl, which he learns because she — who doesn’t exactly look like a she — tells him. Max is a talking, self aware zombie who relates how she became one — but not before she politely asks Neil if she can eat his brains.
As the zombie horde bears down on Neil’s home, he sees that Max is as scared of them as he is. These zombies eat each other, so Max is as likely to be dinner as Neil’s family — and Max can get her fill of brains by eating other zombies. And so, Neil and Max become zombie-killing allies. For kids, this surely makes the whole zombie concept less scary, without making it entirely fluffy.
In general, I’m not a huge fan of self-aware talking zombies or friendly zombies, but in the context of a kids’ book, it works (though Matt Mogkmight disagree with the idea of teaching children that zombies can be nice). This is a zombie book geared directly at kids, but it’s still scary — and who knows? If zombies start eating zombies, maybe we will have undead allies someday. If boys and girls can get along, anything’s possible.
The “Zombie Girl Invasion” ebook is only 99 Cents at Smashwords
