A Small Zombie Problem

April 1, 2019

Gr 5-8-August wishes to have friends and adventures, and to go to school, yet he's never left the crumbling house he shares with his eccentric Aunt Hydrangea, who lives in her past glory as Miss Chili Pepper Princess. The novel's setting in Hurricane County, a "soggy part of the nation...a place where water reigned, and nothing could truly be called solid ground," gives a nostalgic feel of a time gone by with formal teas and dinner parties. August's life is looking up when he finds himself invited to tea with an aunt and cousins he never knew existed. Then, he inadvertently reanimates a zombie, Claudette, who will not leave his side. August learns that not everything is as it seems when Claudette turns out to be his best companion. August's lonely character is well developed; he seems timid at first but gets braver as the book progresses. The ending is predictable yet lighthearted, hinting strongly at a sequel. Campbell's strong use of figurative language evokes vivid imagery and paints a picture in the reader's mind. VERDICT Reminiscent of Roald Dahl in uniting the macabre with realism.-Elena Schuck, Mattacheese Middle School, Marstons Mills, MA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2019
Hot sauce, butterflies, and zombies--oh my! When you're a lonely little boy who would like nothing more than to make friends, it is decidedly unhelpful that you are white as a sheet and often confused with a ghost due to having lived your entire life inside a dilapidated manor, or that you have a strange condition that unfailingly attracts butterflies that hover about your head, or that eccentric Aunt Hydrangea, whom you live with, won't stop talking about your family's failed hot-sauce empire. But even with all these setbacks, August DuPont manages to capture the attention of another aunt he didn't know he had, who invites August to meet her and his two cousins. Aunt Orchid proposes that she and August can help each other: He can look in his house for a rare stone and family heirloom that Orchid wants for her jewel collection, and in exchange she can send him to school. But his hopes of normalcy are seemingly dashed when a long-dead relative inexplicably pops out of her grave and refuses to leave August's side. In his middle-grade authorial debut, Campbell has crafted an endearing protagonist and intriguing cast (even a sweet zombie) and set them adrift in a haze of family mystery with such elements as giant white alligators and undead magic shows for added flair. His frequent black-and-white pictures add humor and depict August's family (both living and dead) as white. A tantalizing start to a delightfully macabre new series. (Supernatural mystery. 8-12)

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April 29, 2019
Campbell (Flora & Ulysses) leaps assuredly into middle grade fiction in this, well, spirited series opener featuring a cast of enchantingly eccentric characters. August DuPont lives in the garret of his family’s crumbling manse with his quirky Aunt Hydrangea, who, fearing for his safety, refuses to let the 11-year-old outdoors. August’s only knowledge of peers derives from a TV show about a group of friends—a program that he views, via telescope, on a TV located on a ramshackle houseboat nearby. Lonely and longing to “join the world,” August insists on accepting an invitation to visit Hydrangea’s equally offbeat sister, Orchid, estranged since she married a descendant of the ruthless entrepreneur who drove the DuPonts’ prosperous hot sauce company out of business. Venturing beyond the garden gate for the first time, August gets a whirlwind introduction to the real—and not so real—world when he meets an undead girl in a cemetery, who removes and offers him one of her eyeballs, then refuses to leave his side. With wry humor and inventive plotting, Campbell reveals August’s tangled, magic-tinged ancestry while shaping a poignant portrait of a boy—and a zombie—in search of friendship. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words.

Starred review from April 15, 2019
Grades 3-5 *Starred Review* Life for August DuPont, heir to a defunct hot-sauce empire, hasn't been what one would consider normal. For starters, he's never stepped outside of the decaying mansion where he lives with his high-strung, tiara-wearing Aunt Hydrangea, and the only kids his age he's ever seen have been on TV or delivering groceries to the mansion. It's a shock, then, when he receives an invitation from his hitherto unknown Aunt Orchid, asking him to tea. The visit is eye-opening in many ways. Apparently, a past relative had been a necromancer, and if August can find Orfeo DuPont's lost zombie stone, Aunt Orchid will enroll him in school with his cousins. Dreams of school, a friend gang, and?most coveted of all?someone with whom to exchange a high five flit before August's eyes, and he agrees. While passing a cemetery on his way home, August discovers he is being followed by young, newly undead Claudette DuPont, whom he just can't shake. Campbell's series-starter is an off-kilter delight featuring many of his own illustrations, which, though unseen, should be a fantastic addition, considering his artwork for Kate DiCamillo's Flora and Ulysses (2013). August's discoveries of family secrets unlock even greater mysteries, and readers who like macabre tales tempered with butterflies will eagerly follow Campbell's likable protagonist onward to his next adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)