Zombie Haiku

I grab a quick meal / while skimming through the paper. / Death, death, death, comics (7).

Zombie Haiku is a journal composed almost entirely of haiku poems about the zombie apocolypse. It begins as a poetry journal with lovely haiku about dandelions and magic and romance, but quickly turns into something else... along with the author. As the journal progresses, more and more people turn into zombies, or are eaten by zombies, or are eaten by zombies then turn into zombies, and all of it is recorded in haiku.

All I think about / is how hungry I will be / once I eat this foot (72).

In addition to the zombie haiku, there are also polaroid photos of zombies and zombie attacks. The journal is also covered in blood, duct tape, hair and guts. The journal begins and ends with notes scrawled by a person who found the journal (or took it out of a zombie's hand after he broke it off by smashing it repeatedly with a door). The note-scrawler reads the journal while he's waiting for certain doom, then finally a zombie himself. It is a scary, fun, quick, creepy read, "a thoroughly unique and entertaining experience." Robert Kirkman, author of The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies.

Mecum, Ryan. 2008. Zombie Haiku. Cincinnati: HOW Books. ISBN 9781600610707

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

Ruby Milliken's mother just died and now she has to move across the country to live with her scum-bag moviestar father, Whip, who divorced her mother before she was even born. Ugh, what a hideous way to start a book. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies is a novel written in verse by Sonya Sones. Ruby's poems and emails tell the story of what happens when she has to leave her aunt, best friend and boyfriend behind and move across the country to live with her father in his giant Hollywood mansion. She finds it difficult to fit in with the students of the L.A. school because they're used to having celebrities for parents. She's not used to it at all. She also finds it difficult to live in her father's shadow and to get used to his trainers and personal assistants and chefs and even him being around all the time, since he abandoned her and all....

Gillian Engberg (Booklist, May 1, 2004 (Vol. 100, No. 17)) says of One of Those Hideous Books... "It's Ruby's first-person voice--acrimonious, raw, and very funny--that pulls everything together, whether she is writing e-mails to her deceased mother, attending Dream Analysis class at a private L.A. high school, or finally learning to accept her father and embrace a new life. A satisfying, moving novel that will be a winner for both eager and reluctant readers."

Since this is a novel written in verse, it's great for reluctant readers and also those just looking for something quick to read. Sonya Sones has written several other books in verse, like What My Mother Doesn't Know, which would be great to share with teens who enjoyed this one. (I liked it so much that I accidentally read it in one night!)

Sones, Sonya. 2004. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780689858208

(I wanted to share one of my favorite moments from the book, but since it's kind of long, I decided to place it here at the end.)

Grand Entrance

So much for trying to keep / my celebrity-daughter status a secret. / You should have seen the heads swivel / when we walked in here together. / It was like something out of The Exorcist. / And I bet you'd barf if you could see / how these women in the administration office / are falling all over themselves right now, / fluttering around Whip like a flock of butterflies on X. / They're telling him how grateful they are / for his generous donation / and how delighted they are that he's volunteered / to be the auctioneer at their second annual Noisy Auction . and how they're sure he'll draw / an even bigger crowd than Hanks did last year. / They're offering him mocha lattes / and Krispy Kreme doughnuts / and some kind of fruit that I've never even seen before. / And I'm sitting here right next to him, / crossing my eyes, sticking out my tongue, / and wiggling my ears. / But no one seems to be noticing me. / (Okay. So I'm not really doing any of that. / But they wouldn't be noticing. / Even if I was.) (69)

Metamorphosis: Junior Year

Metamorphosis: Junior Year is a quick read full of free-verse poetry and pen-and-ink drawings from Ovid, a junior high school teen, who has to be perfect to make up for the mistakes made by his meth-head older sister, Thena. If only his parents were as hopeful as they were when they named their kids, Ovid wouldn't have to try so hard to be perfect. He compares his life in high school to Roman mythology, comparing his friends to Icarus, Orpheus, Dalia, Cupid and Callisto among others. An artsy kid, Ovid is afraid to be himself around his parents, to show them his artwork and poetry, because he worries they'll think he's crazy and about to go off the deep end like his dear sister, which he may very well be close to doing.

Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Sep. 1, 2009 (Vol. 106, No. 1)) says of Metamorphosis, "Franco blends references to the classical canon with fast free verse and casual prose, and the wry combination of contemporary technology and archetypes will appeal to teens, even if they don’t get all the nods to the mythical stories."

A ForeWord review (Foreword Reviews, January/February 2010) says, "Like Ovid, famous for his epic poem, Metamorphoses, Franco's Ovid delivers a message of the transformative powers of experience and love."

The artwork shown in Metamorphosis is drawn by the author's son, Tom Franco, and if you happen to catch the audio version, it's performed by James and Dave Franco of movie and television fame. Who knew the Franco family would be so amazing?

Sharing this book with teens then asking them to write and draw their own poetry, or even asking for poems and drawings in response to the book, will be a sure way to grab and keep their attention.

France, Betsy. 2009. Metamorphosis: Junior Year. Ill. by Tom Franco. Somerville: Candlewick. ISBN 9780763637651