Zombelina - Hardcover

Crow, Kristyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802728030 ISBN 13: 9780802728036

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 2013

Synopsis

Leap and twirl alongside Zombelina, the most adorable zombie to ever grace the dance floor, in this wickedly charming picture book perfect for fans of Vampirina.

Zombelina loves to dance. She moonwalks with mummies and boogies with bats. She spins like a specter and glides like a ghost and loves to dance for her family the most. And when Zombelina enrolls in a ballet class for human girls, her dancing gives everyone the chills! But her first recital also brings on a case of stage fright, and she worries that her zombie moans and ghoulish groans will scare her audience away. Luckily, with the help of her family and friends, Zombelina finds the courage to dance the ballet debut of her dreams.

Kristyn Crow's pitch-perfect rhyme and Molly Idle's spook-tacular illustrations will make every reader want to sway and sashay in their own zombie trance.

About this title

About the Authors

KRISTYN CROW loves to use rhythm, rhyme, and repetition to make reading snappy and fun. Her first book, Cool Daddy Rat, received starred reviews and was named a Blue Ribbon Book by the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. Other titles include Bedtime at the Swamp, The Middle-Child Blues, and Skeleton Cat. Kristyn enjoys visiting elementary schools, where she directs eager young readers in a "swamp rhythm symphony" using a variety of percussion instruments. Kristyn is the mother of seven wonderfully creative children, and is married to a policeman, who doubles as a mad scientist/inventor. She lives in Layton, Utah.
www.kristyncrow.com

MOLLY IDLE is the Caldecott-Honor winning author and illustrator of Flora and the Flamingo and Flora and the Penguin, as well as Tea Rex and Camp Rex. She is also the illustrator of the Zombelina books. Molly worked at DreamWorks Feature Animation Studios for five years before turning to book illustration full-time. When not making mischief with her boys or watching old Technicolor musicals, she can be found at her desk scribbling away, with a pencil in one hand and a cup of espresso in the other. She now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her family and two snuggly cats.
www.idleillustration.com
@MollyIdle

Reviews

K-Gr 2-Zombelina (no relation to Thumbelina) loves to dance, especially for her family. She can moonwalk with mummies, boogie with bats, wiggle with werewolves, rock out with rats, spin like a specter, and glide like a ghost. Then her mother decides she should become a real ballerina and sends her to classes. Her instructor, Madame Maladroit, thinks she's superb, but her classmates aren't so sure about the new green student. After much practice, Zombelina is ready for the big recital. Unfortunately stage fright takes over and all she can do is hold out her arms and make a few moans. Shouts of ZOMBIE! ensue and the audience runs away. Luckily the seats are soon filled with Zombelina's family and spooks, so she dances for them. Her mother says, "You're so good, it's scary!" and her teacher proclaims, "DREAD-fully unique!" Back home via broom they have a fun party where Zombelina wraps up the theme of the story, "My performance was haunting tonight!/My family makes everything turn out all right." Crow's rhyming text is ready-made for reading aloud. Idle's colored-pencil illustrations are bursting with details, facial expressions, wonderfully slightly spooky touches, and when appropriate, love. An unusually well-done mix of Halloween, dance, and family that's sure to please many youngsters.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NHα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

If Dr. Frankenstein, Tim Burton, or Charles Addams had tried to create a picture-book protagonist, it might have been Zombelina, a little girl zombie who loves to dance. No matter that her body parts are stitched together and sometimes fly off; this greenish girl boogies with the creatures that haunt her house, including mummies, ghosts, skeletons, bats, and rats. Zombelina’s weird world collides with our own when her mother enrolls her in an actual ballet class. Zombelina gives the other girls at the barre the creeps, but the teacher, Madame Maladroit, is impressed by the way Zombelina can (literally) hold her legs over her head. At the final recital, Zombelina’s stage fright scares the audience into fleeing the theater, leaving Zombelina dejected—until her ghastly family and friends fill the room to save the day. The rhyming text (with a few groaner puns) fits the dance-beat theme, while the friendly illustrations offer all kinds of ghoulish surprises. An especially funny horror story with a warm message in its unbeating heart. Grades K-2. --Connie Fletcher

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802728030
• ISBN 13: 9780802728036
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Idle Molly
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32