Rating: 3 stars
Madison Swift is a typical high school junior, living with her single, coroner father, and spending lots of time with her spotlight-craving, BFF Hazel.
In addition to the normal high-school drama, Madison is convinced that her third period Home Ec class is cursed—evidenced by the fact that three girls in the class have all recently died in mysterious accidents.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for Maddy: She has a crush on Stamp, the new hunk in school; and, he just might be crushing on her right back.
Maddy is surprised when she just happens to run into Stamp on her way home, and even more surprised when he asks her to a party that night. Knowing that she has to break her father’s three golden rules, and face dire consequences should she be caught, Maddy agrees.
On her way to the party, Maddy is struck by lightening and wakes up, face down, in a mud puddle—however, mud is the least of her problems. After returning home and peering at the smoking crater in her head, confirming the lack of a heartbeat or breath—and of course taking an on-line quiz—Maddy determines she is a zombie.
Now Maddy has to figure out how to pull off her new social status, without revealing that she’s the walking dead. Luckily, there’s help in the form of two Goths at school, who are already living the dream, and who provide Maddy with a book of new rules to live by: The Guide to the Proper Care and Feeding of Zombies, 24th Edition—which makes her father’s rules look like a cake walk—and the backup she needs to help defend herself and Barracuda High against potential zombie attacks.
Rusty Fischer does an amazing job of writing a first-person narrative of Maddy Swift’s decent into zombie-hood. Not only does he authentically capture the essence of a teenage girl, but provides a fun, fresh take on the usual leg-dragging, groaning, brain-craving zombie, and pens a fun and entertaining story that is often laugh-out-loud and always grin-inducing—although, brains are still required.
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Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Medallion Press (May 1, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-1605423821