Brian had a good idea with The Electric Mayhem and I find myself wanting to do a bit of the same. I will call my column WHIRL, What Have I Read Lately and it will focus on books that I have read most recently. These days, all of my formal reviews for the site are for television, but I want to keep true to the roots of old school fantasybookspot and then bookspotcentral, so this column I take a look at books in a laid back setting.
The first book up is My Rotten Life by David Lubar published by Starscape Publicity. The book is classified by Starscape as Middle-Grade Fiction and was released in August of 2009. David Lubar actually grew up in my home town so you know I have to give him some publicity. I really wanted to make sure I talked a bit about My Rotten Life as I missed out on reading his earlier books. You can find some of the earlier books reviewed here if you want to check them out.
When fifth-grader Nathan Abercrombie accidentally gets doused with an experimental serum, he becomes a half-dead zombie – and discovers that being half-dead isn’t all bad. Since he doesn’t need any sleep, he can stay up all night and play video games. He doesn’t feel any pain, so there’s no need to worry about Rodney the bully anymore. Still, Nathan would rather be human. Will he find a cure? Or will Nathan be half-dead forever?
See, what Lubar did was figure out a way for a 5th grader to give up most of the social worries attributed with growing up by being a zombie. Let us start at the beginning though, we need to find out how Nathan becomes half-dead. The story starts out with Nathan getting dissed by Shawna, one of the popular girls, by not inviting him to her party, in front of a crowd of people. I think sometimes middle school girls can be that much crueler to boys because they like to torment in public, most high school girls have moved beyond that to ignoring. Things aren’t going to get any better for Nathan though as he goes to gym and gets picked dead last (ha ha) to play sports. Even though Nathan’s best friend Mookie is trying to cheer him up, it is not enough. Then one of the weird girls in school, Abigail, says that her Uncle Zardo the neurobiologist has been studying emotions and can get rid of unwanted feelings. Nathan is so down in the dumps that he decides he will try Zardo’s Hurt-Be-Gone, then that klutz Mookie spills it all over Nathan. Now for me, I remember 5th grade, and no way Im going to let some crazy scientist dude give me anything, but Nathan seems like he is really on the lower end of the food chain at school, so I guess some kids will try anything. So Nathan becomes half-dead, due to the spill of the formula all over him and while they race to find a solution to the problem (you know Shawna would be involved in some way right?), Nathan finds out that it might be kinda cool being a zombie for a while.
So back to the author Lubar and how he put together a book that addresses many of the concerns children have in social situations. Nathan is one of the children that is picked last for sports, can not play video games, and is not all the popular, but guess what? Being dead, or half dead, can change all of that. It is enjoyable to see Lubar take those situations and turn them around by making Nathan a zombie. See, Nathan can play by a different set of rules when human limitations go out the window. For a 5th grader I think the trade offs of being a zombie might actually be worth it when he experiences the upside of those limitations. Lubar has a solid grasp on the differences of what is important to an adult versus what is important to a 5thgrader and this allows for a nice portrayal of the kids. The tension of finding a cure for Nathan was smooth throughout the book and worked real well to keep the reader attached to the story and the characters. The humor is also very subtle, giving readers of all ages a chance to replay scenes in their head to really get the most out of the book.
He came down flat on his back. Mookie and I both winced at the sound of his head bouncing off the gym floor. Luckily, the soggy waffle chunks cushioned the blow a bit.
The humor is neatly tucked into every scene, you just are not going to get hit over the head with it. If you were Nathan though that would not hurt anyway. Also Lubar does a great job with Abigail as she felt like a real misunderstood smart girl. I can say it over and over again until it comes out to bite you, but Lubar can write realistic children and social situations for children. The only issue I had as an adult reading the book is that while this is a zombie book, Lubar sometimes goes a bit overboard with the silly situations, especially with Zardo. Sometimes that one foot that is still planted in reality, does a little Hokey Pokey into the crazy area. This is a fun book though, so we can forgive him. The ending of the book is left very open ended, and it seems this is just the beginning for Nathan. When you specifically use the phrase, “But that’s another story.” we can surmise Lubar has more in store for us.
Check out the video trailer for the book below
I like David Lubar’s kids stories. I agree in that he seems to capture what kids want and what holds them back and likes to play with those situations. Damon you should definitely try some of his short story collections – the Weenies books are full of fun little stories that showcase this skill very well.
I think I have a Weenies book somewhere in the house so I will give it a try, you can read them out of order I hope?