Bibliographic info
Shan, D. (2012). Zom-B. US: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-0316214407
Libby Scale
3.5 out of 5
Genre
Horror, Apocalyptic, Zombies, Science Fiction
Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+ (I couldn’t find an actual rating for it, so that’s just my opinion)
Plot Summary (Spoilers)
The book opens with an extremely gory scene of a zombie invasion in Ireland. Soon the book takes us to B’s town. We learn of B’s abusive father and what B endures to protect their mother from the beatings. B’s father is also very racist and won’t tolerate anything less from his family. At one point B saves a baby from a kidnapper, but it turns out it was a Muslim baby. B doesn’t see anything wrong with saving the baby, but that doesn’t stop B from struggling with other situations dealing with racism. When zombies attack B’s school, B teams up with other students to survive the attack. Parents begin to arrive to find their children amid the panic but many have already been killed or turned into zombies themselves.
Critical Evaluation
The beginning and end of the book are insanely gory but at the same time the best parts of the book. It felt like the middle was simply full of B trying to decide if they were racist or not, even though it was clear that B was racist even if they didn’t want to be. This is probably due to B’s abusive father. Even so, the middle of the book really had almost nothing to do with zombies.
Challenge Issues
Zom-B is exceptionally gory at times. It also has references to racism.
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