The Show Must Go On! Zombelina Dances the Nutcracker by Kristyn Crow

IT'S ME, ZOMBELINA. THE TRYOUT'S TODAY
IN THE OLD OPERA HOUSE, WITH MY CORPSE DE BALLET

I'M HERE FOR THE NUTCRACKER. IT'S MY AUDITION.

I KNOW I'M GOING TO STIFF THE COMPETITION.

But in going for the big role of the season, Zombelina's got a couple of problems. No, it's not her legs flying off when she does her jetes. Madame just calls that grand extension. It's that she has to try out against her best friend Lizzie. And then, there's Grandpa Phantom (of the Opera), who just loves to, er, generate his special effects in the lighting of the old opera house.

But Zombelina wows the judges and wins the part of Clara. This time it's Lizzie relegated to the chorus. but the two friends both work hard to master their moves and finally it's opening night. The lights dim, and in dead silence from the enchanted audience, Zombelina begins to dance. The Mouse King threatens the Prince, and it is time for the dramatic climax of the scene.

WHEN IT'S THE MOMENT, I TAKE OFF MY SHOE
TO THROW IT AT HIM (JUST AS CLARA MUST DO.)

BUT OH, WHAT A MESS. AS YOU WOULD PROBABLY GUESS--
MY FOOT ENDS UP SAILING ALONG WITH MY SHOE.

But Zombelina pulls herself together to climb into the sleigh with the Prince for the grand finale of the first act, when suddenly something happens to the stage lights. The spotlights dim and suddenly nothing can be seen of the dancers--mice and all--except their bones.

ZZAAP! The corps de ballet is a group x-ray!

But Zombelina is one dancer who can think on her feet (if she has them at the moment). She whispers to her friend to switch roles with her while she puts the kabash on Grandpa's pranks backstage. But Lizzie protests that she doesn't know Clara's steps!

ZOMBELINA GIVES LIZZIE HER LEGS. "LET MINE DO THE SHOW!
WITH CLARA'S LONG NIGHTGOWN, THEY WON'T EVEN KNOW."

LIZZIE LOOKS A BIT SQUEAMISH, BUT NODS "OKAY.
I'VE HEARD 'BREAK A LEG!' BUT NEVER THIS WAY!"

That's Showbiz! Detachable zombie legs do come in handy, and the show goes on, in Krystyn Crow's latest Zombelina story, Zombelina Dances The Nutcracker (Bloomsbury Press, 2015), in which the whole ballet company gives it all they've got (and then some). Author Crow knows her way around rhyme schemes and wordplay, and manages to work in the expected zombie tropes in a decidedly detached version of the usual Nutcracker Ballet story, while Caldecott-winning artist Molly Idle ably portrays Zombelina as a ballerina with grace and presence who knows how to exploit her unusual abilities. As School Library Journal puts it, "It had to happen: The Phantom of the Opera meets The Nutcracker!"

Share this one with Marilyn Singer's Tallulah's Nutcracker and James Mayhew's Ella Bella Ballerina and The Nutcracker (Ella Bella Ballerina Series.)

Wicked Weird: My Rotten Friend by Stephanie J. Blake

SHE'S MY BEST FRIEND.

BUT I WON'T LIE.

PENELOPE SMELLS

LIKE SOMETHING DIED.

And while everyone else in the class is growing, Penelope seems to be, er, losing it.

Teeth, well, sure. Everyone in class loses one now and then. But Penelope is... kinda running low on them. That doesn't stop her from biting now and again, though. And one day she turned up missing ... (I hate to say it) an eyeball. Flies begin to circle her head.

Penelope's a real gross-out girl. She's acting strange, too.

SHE SAID SHE'S IN AN EATING MOOD.

BUT SHE DIDN'T WANT TO SHARE MY FOOD.

And when Penelope bites a coach, she has to leave school.

I HAVE TO TAKE MY BEST FRIEND HOME.

I RIDE MY BIKE. SHE JUST SHUFFLES ALONG.

Birds fall out of the trees and cats run away shrieking, as Penelope drops a few body parts along the sidewalk.

Some friendships have their ups and downs, and when your best friend's interests are centered on a "zombie buffet," the relationship seems doomed, in Stephanie J. Blake's My Rotten Friend (Albert Whitman and Company, 2015). Illustrator Mariano Epelbaum adds to the satire, setting the story in a cartoon-style idyllic, picket-fenced town, while author Blake has freaky fun spoofing all the usual zombie tropes in a story that will appeal to kids bored with friendly ghosties and winsome witches but with a stomach for the undead genre and like their Halloween tales with a ghastly tongue-in-cheek twist.

For funny zombie stories that offer a kitchy heartwarming twist, try Kelly DiPucchio's Zombie in Love and Zombie in Love 2 + 1 (see reviews here)

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.