Getting It Together for School: Zombelina: School Days by Kristyn Crow

IT'S ME, ZOMBELINA!

ALL READY FOR SCHOOL!

Zombelina gets it all together--her school supplies are all stashed in her backpack, and she emerges, ready for the school bus, rather well turned out--for a zombie.

"YOU LOOK DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS," SAYS HER MOM.

In fact, Zombelina keeps it together as she break-dances down the aisle of the bus, waving at her friends.

Zombelina doesn't have to worry about slighting a friend. Her top half sits with one, while her bottom half shares a seat with another.

At school Zombelina's teacher Ms. Roth introduces a new student to the class. His name is Morty, and he's literally looking rather blue, until Zombelina raises her hand with a cheery wave.

Whoops! There goes one hand, sailing down the aisle!

But Morty fetches it from under his desk without a blink, and Zombelina chooses just the right book for silent reading--Brains! In fact, she keeps her nose in the book and leaves it there, even after Ms. Roth calls time. Zombelina sticks her nose back on just ahead of Show-and-Tell Talent Time.

Zombelina is ready. She's put together a killer-diller dance routine.

MY HIP-HOP'S TO DIE FOR!

However, her HIP-HOP ends with a PLOP! Body parts DROP! Her eyes ROLL! However, Zombelina pulls herself together like a pro.

I HOLD IT TOGETHER LIKE A REAL DANCER.

But Zombelina's break dance routine is a hard act to follow, and poor Morty has a serious case of stage fright. But Zombelina whispers to him that nobody's act can fall apart like hers! Go for it! she says. Break a leg!

The show-and-tell must go on, in Kristyn Crow's latest zombie tale, Zombelina School Days (Bloomsbury Press, 2017). Zombie tropes drop as fast as Zombelina's body parts, in this latest spoof of zombie mania for the primary school set which ends in a jolly back-to-school party in which everybody finds their own groovy moves. Caldecott artist Molly Idle's illustrations manage to make even an, er, loose-jointed zombie look graceful, and young readers will wish their show-and-tell sessions could be half as much fun as Zombelina's. "This zombie may not be able to keep her body together, but she can sure keep her head in delicate situations and be a good friend," adds Kirkus Reviews.

For more zingy zombie stories, pair this new one with any of Crow and Idle's zesty tales of Zombelina here.