Wednesday 22 January 2014

Where's the Zombie? by Paul Moran

This is a review of a book that I would have loved to have received as a Christmas or birthday present. The book is called Where's the Zombie? and it is written by Jen Wainwright and illustrated by Paul Moran. It is, if you hadn't guessed already, a Where's Wally? (or if you're American, Where's Waldo?) type of book. The book contains 17 double page spreads packed full of figures (humans and zombies for the most part) and your job is to find 10 family members who are all zombies, 10 first aid kits and 5 special items that are listed at the back of the book. That gives 25 separate things to find in each picture, meaning hours of fun.
The zombie apocalypse began when Joel Peters, a scientist at Hart Laboratories, New York, got exposed to a deadly virus named ZX-5, which he was developing. He was sent home and quarantined. However, he spread the infection to his family and they all somehow escaped. The Hart family consists of Joel, his wife Martha, four children (an older daughter, a son and two female twins), Joel's father and mother, and their two pets, a cat and a dog. Yes, even the animals were zombified. You can clearly see all ten members of the Hart family on the front cover above.
Please note that the front cover has a parental advisory notice because the book contains gruesome scenes. This is true. There is a lot of gore in the book, so it may not be suitable for very young children. The back of the book shows the answers to where the family and the first aid kits can be found, but it also gives you a further five items per scene to find and these are not shown in the answer pages. Most of them are easy to spot but some are fiendishly difficult. The family members are not too hard to find, although the cat, being the smallest, can be rather tricky to find. Finding all 10 first aid kits is a lot harder because they are so small.
I must admit that I found this book immensely enjoyable and it kept me quiet and busy for hours as I searched for the 25 items per scene. I was pleased to note that the book gave a nod to the original Wally/Waldo, in that he appears in one of the scenes (the fourth one set in Ringhill High School). He's the geek with a suitcase, one of the five special items you're asked to find. He isn't wearing his trademarked red and white hooped top but the face is definitely him. A very nice touch, I thought.
The book costs £9.99, but I bought my copy much cheaper at Amazon.co.uk for just £4.97. I'll  give it an 8 out of 10 rating. The illustrations are excellent but I do wonder if, once you find everything, would you go back to it again? Anyone looking for inspiration for survivor figures, civilians and/or zombies, or just colour schemes, could find much inspiration in here.

16 comments:

  1. How cute! How Christmasey (?)

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    1. Yes, I wish I'd bought it before Christmas and not after.

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  2. This sounds like my cup of tea. Hours of fun!

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    1. Hours of fun indeed, Clint! I certainly got my money's worth out of it.

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  3. I was tempted to get this for my daughter... but the parental advisory part has, quite rightly, steered me away... I'll just have to get it for myself instead! :)

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    1. I dunno how old your daughter is, Adam, but I'd advise caution if buying this for young children. For yourself, however, that's a different matter entirely. It might well be worth stocking in your shop.

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  4. Great fun book and kids would love it, gore and all.

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    1. Reading many of the comments on Amazon's website about this book, it does seem to be just as popular with kids as it is with adults.

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  5. Just when I think that there's nothing new to be said about some genre, someone or something comes along and proves me wrong. I could see this being fun for the older family during a rainy holiday...

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    1. Ha, ha, I know what you mean, Hugh. I must admit that i was very surprised when I saw this book appear in my recommendations on the Amazon website, but I was instantly smitten with it. And at less than half price it was a damned good bargain.

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  6. This does sound really fun, and I've always been a fan of this sort of mash-up humor. Would sit really nicely next to "All my friends are dead".

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    1. Do you know something, Carl? This brought out the little kid in me and it really made me smile.

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