A Zombie Vacation

Mordant readers will be thrilled to find a kindred soul. --Kirkus Reviews

My walk lacked the proper stiffness.

I had lost the urge to moan.

My skin no longer had its lovely dull, sickly color.

I wasn't scary anymore . . .

Where oh where can a tired, stressed out zombie get a little rest and relaxation? Sounds like the Dead Sea might be perfect!

Take a tour through Israel with an unusually adorable zombie who desperately needs a break.

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Zombies, it turns out, are a lot like Oscar the Grouch.

The undead Israeli narrator of this picture book hates Luna Park in Tel Aviv because the roller coaster has 'too many happy people' and the Israel Museum because it has 'too many beautiful things.' Zombies, it seems, prefer to vacation in crumbling hotels full of roaches and bedbugs. Grouchy readers, or anyone who s sick of conventional travel guides, will love the vacation suggestions.

The main character goes to see endangered species they re also almost dead and spends several pages visiting the Dead Sea. In fact, the book turns into an odd sort of advertisement for that site, with a two-page afterword answering questions like, 'How do you float in the Dead Sea?'

The promotion may not work on mainstream tourists, but the book will appeal to anyone with Charles Addams sense of humor. It s relentlessly grim with one exception: Ruiz s pictures of cuddly animals are absolutely adorable. Even the narrator ends up hugging a few kittens in a touching break of character.

But the pictures of the zombie are wonderfully grotesque, with bulging eyeballs and jagged teeth. The gray skin and youthful appearance (at age 800) also make the narrator s race and gender ambiguous, though the other characters come from a wide variety of faiths and ethnicities. But anyone who s the least bit morbid will find the book hilarious.

Mordant readers will be thrilled to find a kindred soul. (Picture book. 5-8) --Kirkus Reviews

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Rose is the author of Shmulik Paints the Town, the Star Powers series, and other books for children. She lives near Detroit, Michigan.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Ángeles Ruiz was born in Barcelona, Spain, where she lives with her husband and their daughter, who is her source of inspiration and toughest critic. She has illustrated several books for children, including The Lost Kitten by Leyla Torres. When not illustrating, Ángeles loves to explore nature, visit the library, and spend time with her family.