Zombies. Not the sort of shambling brain-obsessed monsters you'd really expect to see anywhere near children's fiction, but how about zig-zag zit-faced zombies? Not obsessed with feasting on the rich goo you keep between your ears, but the sticky green matter you keep up your nose. That's right, not brainnnnsssss but boggggieeeessss! Welcome to our early review of the second "Gorgeous George" novel from MyLittleBigTown's dynamic duo, Stuart Reid and Calvin Innes.
We rejoin our intrepid hero as George's town recovers from the complete trashing it suffered in the first Gorgeous George novel, Gorgeous George and the Giant Geriatric Generator (which we gave an awesome 4 out of 5 to back in February), another disaster is on the horizon. Spilled toxic waste, an innocent nursery field trip and a rather nasty infection mean that once again George's (newly rebuilt) school is under threat, and George aided by his trusty sidekick Allison and his mad rambling farty Grandad Jock, must thwart the rather gooey new menace - Zigzag zit-faced ZOMBIES!
It's fair to say that this novel isn't one to read while enjoying a nice plate of winkles, nor is it one to browse while you're eating a choice piece of eel pie. But at ReadItDaddy we know that children absolutely love anything mildly gross, so they're bound to fall in love with George's new adventure which is due for publication in January 2013.
Though Charlotte's not really the right target audience for the book, she seemed to be intrigued by the little snippets of information I leaked about it (it's plainly obvious that Stuart and Calvin have spent a lot of time around infants and know full well that there's nothing slicker than a school sleeve when the usual nasty school germs are doing the rounds, as they are right now!)
The story unfolds at a frenetic break-neck pace with thoughtful introductory narratives courtesy of Grandad Jock (who manages to pause between blowing off to deliver some quite interesting nuggest of scots-flavoured wisdom) and there's no time to hang around mulling over the finer points of how nursery kids can be transformed into bogie-obsessed zombies (half an hour of Tree-Fu Tom might do the trick perhaps?) Soon George's plight becomes a fight for sanity and sanitation as he fights shoulder to shoulder with his trusty newly formed gang.
Will George save the day? Will George's dreamy new teacher ever fall for his charms? Will the snotty little girl from Class B ever stop wiping her nose on her braids?
I'm afraid that you mere mortals will have to wait until January to find out, but if you loved George's previous geriatric generator adventures, you'd better get queueing up to fight the zig-zag zit-faced zombie menace before they come for you and your crusty nostril minings!
Charlotte's best bit: Though Charlotte hasn't had this read to her (bit too young methinks!), she still demanded lengthy explanations on what a Zombie is (kept as child-friendly as possible, of course), why they zigzag, and what a zit is (oh my, trust me, you'll find out kiddo!)
Daddy's favourite bit: The fast frenetic pace, and a skilful and masterful adaptation of the classic Zombie genre for a kid-friendly audience. Oh and bogies. Lots and lots of bogies!
(Gorgeous George and the Zigzag Zitfaced Zombies was kindly sent to us for an early review by the superb folk at MyLittleBigTown Publishing)