Fiction, Grief, Brothers, Families, Horror, Humor
Book Description
From Follett
In the months since Wil Lowenstein's older brother Graham died, Wil has spent most of his time playing a game he invented, but when he finds a way to bring Graham and others back from the dead, fighting zombies is suddenly no longer a game.
From the Publisher
Wil is desperate for his older brother to come back from the dead. But the thing about zombies is . . they don't exactly make the best siblings.
Thirteen-year-old Wil Lowenstein copes with his brother's death by focusing on Zombie Tag, a mafia/
capture the flag hybrid game where he and his friends fight off brain-eating zombies with their mothers' spatulas. What Wil doesn't tell anybody is that if he could bring his dead brother back as a zombie, he would in a heartbeat. But when Wil finds a way to summon all the dead within five miles, he's surprised to discover that his back-from-the-dead brother is emotionless and distant.
In her first novel for younger readers, Moskowitz offers a funny and heartfelt look at how one boy deals with change, loss, and the complicated relationship between brothers.
Booklist (December 15, 2011 (Vol. 108, No. 8))
Grades 5-8. Six months ago, 12-year-old Wil lost his older brother, Graham, to a severe respiratory attack. While at his friend Anthony’s house playing “zombie tag”—a pretty cool game Wil and Graham made up that simulates a zombie invasion—Wil discovers a secret artifact hidden by Anthony’s father: a bell that supposedly raised a group of the dead 30 years ago. Wil steals it and gives it a go, and presto: 70 local dead people rise from their graves. Graham is among them, and his family is thrilled to see him. But he’s different now, so emotionless and cold that Wil begins to wonder if he’s made a horrible mistake. Moskowitz’s latest is nearly unclassifiable by genre and that’s much of the charm. Is this contemporary fiction? Fantasy? Horror? What’s more, Moskowitz deftly swerves between comedy, pathos, and even terror, and makes it look so effortless readers won’t think twice about the strangeness of the mix. There are a few plot bumps near the end, but the surprising amount of heart and wistfulness behind this will carry readers through.
My Comments
This was one of the strangest premises of a book that I have ever read, but it will definitely work for some readers. Having three sons of my own, I thought the dialogue and the game very plausible. Will's way of dealing with losing his brother through playing the zombie game makes sense, but then of course the zombies are real along with unicorns. This book confronts a heartbreaking situation in a realistic young adult manner. It is a strange book, but rather brilliant at the same time. I added the label humor, but it's the kind of humor that gets one through tragic circumstances.
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