 |
Reviewed by: Heather Maneiro, High School Librarian Title: Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear Author: Robin Wasley Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: 9-12 Genre/Type of Book: Fantasy
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: None come to mind Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: Cybils Speculative Fiction Review If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be: How does one make the leap from side-kick to main character in their own story? Does it have to involve a zombie apocalypse?
|
Review:
Sid feels perfectly ordinary in a truly extraordinary place. No wonder she feels like she can’t fit in. Sid’s identity crisis as an Asian adoptee in a primarily white town of magic is only exacerbated when her love letter to her crush results in his entire team finding out and him choosing her best friend instead. Her home town of Wellsie has been on a magical fault line protected by the guardians and their keys. When the fault line is breached and the magic with the accompanying zombie apocalypse is unleashed, Sid must find out if she can be extraordinary. Sid teams up with others who have survived to see if she can find her brother, restore order, and maybe get back to a normal life. But maybe, just maybe, she can go from being the lovable side-kick to an actual main character in this chapter of her life.
Personally, I do not do zombies. I have tried and tried. This book was appealing enough that I could get over my hatred of all things zombie and zombie lore, but I still struggled. At times, I was reminded of one of my favorite short-lived sci-fi programs Revolution (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2070791/awards/?ref_=tt_awd). The rest of my team loved this book, so I am thinking if zombie’s are your jam, it is a must read. Or if, like me, you are really trying to just try out one zombie thing to see if you can stomach it, this may be one to try out😉
Number of party hats:
For more information about this book, see the Publishers Website
For information and resources about this book, check out Teachingbooks.net