Halloween – BookBunnies

Today Caramel talks about The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

The book bunnies received this book from the publisher (CrissCross Applesauce, a City of Light Publishing imprint) as a review copy.

Caramel reviews The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. — Caramel reviews *The Monster in My Basement*, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, what do you want to tell us about this book?

Caramel: It’s about the monster in the basement of Dave’s house.

S: Who is Dave?

C: Dave is a little boy. He is the main person in the story.

S: The author’s name is Dave, too. Maybe he is writing about a time when he was a little boy?

C: Oh yes. And maybe he believed that there was a monster in his basement!

S: That is possible! Remember that other book you reviewed about this other boy who had a monster in his closet?

C: Yes: How to Catch a Monster. That book was also fun.

S: So is this book fun to read?

C: Yep. In the very beginning, Dave puts on a blanket as a cape and puts a pot on his head as a helmet, and the top of the pot is his shield. He uses a wooden spoon as a sword.

S: So all ready to take on the monster in the basement?

C: I don’t know if he knows then there is a monster in the basement. But then he hears it groan and is really afraid.

S: But he still goes into the basement?

C: Yes. He is a bit too curious, I think.

S: So are you telling me you would not have gone to check?

C: Well, probably not. I am a scaredy bunny.

S: I am not so sure of that! But okay, this kid, his name is Dave, and he finds a monster in his basement. Then what?

C: We should not give away the entire story!

S: You’re right. We won’t. But I think you can say a little bit more.

C: The monster, his name is Howard, he says he is hungry and Dave thinks he is the dinner!

S: That does sound scary! And they meet Howard’s mom, and Dave is still pretty scared, right?

C: Yep. But I think I won’t say more about what happens next. Curious bunnies need to read the book to learn!

Caramel is reading The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. On these two pages, Dave meets Howard's mom. — Caramel is reading The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. On these two pages, Dave meets Howard’s mom.

S: Alright, that’s fair. Let us talk a bit more about the book in general terms then. What can you tell us about the pictures?

C: They’re very colorful. Mostly red, black, yellow. Howard is very colorful too. His hair is red and his eyes are yellow!

S: So he does look scary, right?

C: Yes, and so Dave is always scared. Till the end. But I won’t tell the end. A bunny must not tell his secrets.

S: Yes, we agreed that you won’t tell the end. But now I’m curious about what other secrets you’re keeping from me…

C: Oh nothing… Let’s talk more about the book!

S: Okay, I’ll let that slide. For now. Let us talk about the book. There are notes at the end for a song about the book, right?

C: Yes. And there is a web page where you can listen to the song too.

S: Yes, we did visit that site and listened to the song from the beginning to the end together. The author Dave Preston wrote the song, too. What did you think about it?

C: The song is fun, too. It goes through the entire book actually.

S: Yes, then you can hear for yourself the rhyme in the text, right?

C: Yes, there is the part “shake a little bit, shake a little bit, shake, shake, shake”, which they repeat all the time.

S: Yes, that is called a refrain. That part occurs several times in the book, and in the song, too, of course, to remind us that Dave is scared!

C: Yes, he’s scared of being Howard’s lunch. Or dinner. Not sure, who knows… And you know, one of my favorite parts is that when Howard’s mom says “It’s time to eat!” the clock is there, and instead of numbers, it has the letters of the word HUNGRY. Twice, circling around the clock!

S: Yes, that is a nice touch, and a very good observation for a little bunny like yourself!

C: Yep, I am a careful reader.

S: Okay, I think it is time for us to wrap up this review. What are your three words to describe this book?

C: Repetitive, colorful, and funny.

S: Repetitive in a good sense, though, I suppose, no?

C: Yep. It’s like a nursery rhyme, or a song with a repetition. It’s called a refrain, you tell me. Right?

S: Right. So what do you say when we’re wrapping up our review?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has really enjoyed reading The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris, and would recommend it to all other little bunnies. — Caramel has really enjoyed reading *The Monster in My Basement*, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris, and would recommend it to all other little bunnies.

Given that it is Halloween in the United States today, the book bunnies thought about doing something different. Today Sprinkles reviews a handful of children’s books about zombies! VERY SCARY!! And to be honest not all of these are appropriate for children, even though they are published in a children’s book format. But hey, it is Halloween, and we’ve got to try to be scary, right? So here goes.

Sprinkles reviews children's books about zombies. — Sprinkles reviews children’s books about zombies.

As adult bunnies go, I am pretty much a scaredy cat. I do not much enjoy horror movies or novels or short stories. I avoid the genre altogether if I can. Zombies are the one exception. I find them fascinating. From its historical Caribbean and possibly African origins, to the intriguing role it plays in the philosophy of the mind, the zombie is not merely a popular culture icon with a pathological obsession for human brains, but in my opinion an enduring concept that raises significant questions about what it means to be human.

The little bunnies in our household do not yet share my fascination with zombies. However, this has not stopped me from collecting through the years a handful of zombie books that at least seem to be intended for young readers. In this post, I will share my candid opinion about these five books: That’s Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale by Matt Mogk and Aja Wells, The Girl’s Guide to Zombies: Everything Vital about These Undead Monsters by Jen Jones, Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stone, Ten Little Zombies: A Love Story by Andy Rash, and Pat the Zombie: A Cruel Spoof by Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi.

Sprinkles is reading That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale by Matt Mogk and Aja Wells: "If she doesn't seem like she did before, Maybe that's not your mommy anymore." — Sprinkles is reading *That’s Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale* by Matt Mogk and Aja Wells: “If she doesn’t seem like she did before, Maybe that’s not your mommy anymore.”

Let me begin with That’s Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale by Matt Mogk and Aja Wells. This is a book written in rhyme and starts sweet:

Mommy has the kindest eyes.
Mommy likes to bake you pies.

And then something happens to mommy and she is transformed into the scary zombie from the standard zombie movies. We do not see how she is infected, but we discover with the boy, how she becomes a mindless zombie. The book is a picture book really, but the pictures get gorier and more disturbing on each page. Reading this with young bunnies could possibly be traumatizing; especially if the child is already worried occasionally about losing a parent, it would be probably parental malpractice to read it to them. However if you have a young bunny who finds horror fascinating, they might actually enjoy this little gem. Otherwise this is likely more appropriate for the teenage crowd who might have fond memories of having read rhyming picture books but also have a budding interest in zombies and other gory stuff.

Sprinkles is taking the "Which Type of Zombie Are You?" quiz in The Girl's Guide to Zombies: Everything Vital about These Undead Monsters by Jen Jones. — Sprinkles is taking the “Which Type of Zombie Are You?” quiz in *The Girl’s Guide to Zombies: Everything Vital about These Undead Monsters* by Jen Jones.

Next on my list is The Girl’s Guide to Zombies: Everything Vital about These Undead Monsters by Jen Jones. This is a slim hardcover book published in the Girls’ Guides to Everything Unexplained series, which contains books on vampires, werewolves, and wizards. This one is full of pop culture references (though some, like the one about Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, might be somewhat too old for contemporary readers), and offers a lot of information about zombies both in history and in the media. As most books directed at girls assume girls like quizzes, this one, too, has a quiz: Which Type of Zombie Are You? To make sure you are a human, you apparently need to like geometry and California (I am good with both of those!) and strawberry lip gloss (not sure about this one…) All in all, though, this one would really be suitable for the age group it seems to be intended for: the young reader who wants to know what the fuss is about these things called zombies.

Sprinkles is reading Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stone; apparently zombies hate giant purple monsters and penguins. — Sprinkles is reading *Zombies Hate Stuff* by Greg Stone; apparently zombies hate giant purple monsters and penguins.

Next up is Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stone. Readers of this blog might recall that Caramel has already reviewed a book by Greg Stone: Penguins Hate Stuff. Zombies Hate Stuff is a book in exactly the same spirit. Each page has a detailed illustration and a simple word or phrase which describes something else that zombies hate. We learn for example that zombies hate sheep, re-gifting, cliffs, and archery, but they do not mind wigs, celery, teddy bears and Canadians. Zombies Hate Stuff is, just like the penguin book, good for quite a few chuckles. Each illustration is simple yet carefully thought out, and you might find a new page more interesting to you than the others every time you open up the book. The book is likely not directly aimed toward young readers, but seeing how Caramel enjoyed Penguins Hate Stuff, I can see how young ones who like horror stuff even in small doses might also enjoy this one, which adds a good deal of humor into the mix.

Sprinkles poses with Ten Little Zombies: A Love Story by Andy Rash, and Pat the Zombie: A Cruel Spoof by Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi. — Sprinkles poses with *Ten Little Zombies: A Love Story* by Andy Rash, and *Pat the Zombie: A Cruel Spoof* by Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi.

Finally let me say a few words about Ten Little Zombies: A Love Story, by Andy Rash, and Pat the Zombie: A Cruel Spoof, by Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi. These two are modeled after a well-known children’s rhyme in the case of Ten Little Zombies (I first heard about it while reading a novel by Agatha Christie; readers might want to follow the evolution of this rhyme in the relevant Wikipedia article) and a well-known children’s book in the case of Pat the Zombie.

The Ten Little Zombies follows the steps of the Ten Little Soldier Boys. Just as that poem is itself quite gory, the book is quite bloody and would likely not be great for really young bunnies. As you read further, the story gets more and more violent, but the end surprises the reader with a sweet twist. So even though zombies and blood and gore are all over this little book, I still smile when I think about it. Among the five books I’m reviewing here, this book is my favorite. I can see The Ten Little Zombies be appreciated by middle grade readers and older bunnies who are not terribly offended by gore and blood but also find love in the midst of gore at least somewhat endearing.

Now Pat the Zombie is another story. My best guess is that readers who grew up with Pat the Bunny, the 1940 touch-and-feel classic, are the main target audience of this book. Apparently there have been other parodies of the book: Wikipedia mentions “Pat the Politician, mocking contemporary political figures, and Pat the Yuppie, which includes activities like touching the sheepskin seatcovers of their new BMW and rubbing the exposed brick of their new condominium’s wall.” This is a good parody, and a cruel one, as the subtitle “A Cruel Spoof” implies. All standard parts of the original Pat the Bunny are here, there is a zombie bunny, Pat, and the two children start by touching it (or rather “gutting” it, as the book suggests). And step by step, we learn that the parents are also zombies, and things get closer and closer to the reader, as the reader eventually needs to read a survival manual and scream. So yes, this is definitely not for little ones, unless the little ones involved have a morbid sense of humor. But horror fans who can appreciate some cheekiness and who are open to messing around with their own pleasant childhood memories of reading the original Pat the Bunny with a loved adult might find this book amusing. It is really well done, but definitely only for its own audience.

Alright, now here we are, having talked about five zombie books published for children or at least published in the format of standard children’s books. Some of you may wonder about just who writes or publishes these kinds of books. And others might wonder why people even read them. But I will end this review with a full endorsement of cheeky adult humor messing with children’s books. As long as we always know our own children’s boundaries and resist the temptation to share some of these books with them unless we are sure they can handle them, these types of books can offer us a fresh memory of our own childhood mixed with some good load of laughter. (I even pushed away some happy tears with The Ten Little Zombies, I must admit. But then again I am a softie.) Some little bunnies will find some of these books really entertaining, and The Girl’s Guide to Zombies: Everything Vital about These Undead Monsters by Jen Jones is indeed perfectly suitable for the 8-12 year old crowd, so there is that, too.

Oh, and yes, Happy Halloween everyone! May you only be spooked by made-up monsters!

Tag: Halloween

Caramel reviews The Monster in My Basement by Dave Preston

Sprinkles reviews children’s books about zombies