Zombie Outlier: Peanut Butter and (Jelly) Brains: A Culinary Zombie Tale by Joe McGee

REGINALD WAS NOT LIKE THE OTHER ZOMBIES.

THE OTHER ZOMBIES WANTED BRAINS.

ALL REGINALD WANTED WAS PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY.

There's one in every crowd. All the other zombies in town shuffle around in search of brains for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, mumbling....

"BRAINSSSS!!"

All Reggie wants to eat is PB and J sandwiches. But even in the school lunchroom, he strikes out, getting a tray with a big hunk of meatloaf instead. URRKKK! he thinks. Too much like brains!

While the good citizens of Quirkville are running, shrieking, from the zombies, Reginald follows a different drummer, moaning a different tune....

"NO BRAINSSS! PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY!

SWEET JELLY!"

And then Reginald's beady little eyes spot something hopeful. There's a girl at the bus stop, holding a brown paper lunch bag with the telltale stains of peanut butter and jelly. He snatches her lunch, but before he chows down... an altruistic thought passes through Reginald's zombie brain.

"IF THEY COULD JUST SMELL THE PEANUT BUTTER!" REGINALD THOUGHT.

Can Reggie make vegans out of a pack of drooling zombies? You bet your brains he can, in Joe McGee's jolly Peanut Butter & and Jelly Brains: A Zombie Culinary Tale (Abrams Books, 2015). Noted artist Charles Santoso's illustrations offer less-than-scary zombies who prove receptive to culinary change in a story filled with sight gags of shambling undead, all stumbling through the terrorized town, all with outstretched arms and thought bubbles with one image--BRAINS! Even the endpapers document the dietary shift in a tale with almost zero frightfulness that will be a welcome addition to the scary season's readalouds. "Run, don't shamble, to get this original zombie tale," exhorts Kirkus Reviews!(And keep a PB 'n' J sandwich at hand!)

Pair this one with Kristyn Crow's would-be ballerina, Zombelina, (see my review here) for more Halloween fun.