After the original antidote wears off and millions of Americans suddenly rezombify, Zack Clarke and his crew of Zombie Chasers are on a mission to find a lasting cure. But to stop the undead for good, they’ll have to track down a brand-new Zombie Chaser first!
Hitting the road again, the Zombie Chasers set out on a zany international expedition where they’ll have to plow through abominable snow zombies on the Niagara River and outrun slime-drooling thrill-seekers at the biggest and best amusement park in the country! With rotting fairy-tale princesses and half-dead vacationers, it’s not just the Tilt-a-Whirl that will make them woozy. Can the Zombie Chasers end this carnival of frights before it’s too late? – Goodreads Synopsis
Nothing Left to Ooze Review
I didn’t realize that this was book 5 in a series when I picked it up, and I think my reading of it definitely suffered for that. I would have enjoyed the story more if I’d known the characters and the details of the Zompocalypse more. Still, for a book that aims to entertain kids in grades three through seven, it does a decent job.
A horror that is more disgusting than scary (zombie snot bubbles), Nothing Left to Ooze is surprisingly action-packed. The characters are diverse in race, gender, and attitude. The illustrations definitely add to the ‘more disgusting than scary’ air. David DeGrand’s bad guys look like half-melted wax figurines. Not a bad thing, mind you. There’s also definitely a comedic air, with snappy one-liners only elementary kids can appreciate and lots of “schnargle-blargle”ing by the zombies.
For a book about the zombie apocalypse, it definitely keeps it very child-friendly. None of our zombies are actually dead. None of them die in this quest to save the world, either. Instead they can be turned back into humans by a cure the team are out to find. When one of the group gets turned, there’s never even a question of leaving her behind. Instead, they handle the zombification in a matter of fact fashion. They make her as non-dangerous as possible, and haul her along. There’s a pretty snicker-worthy scene in the middle of a theme park as a result of this.
Overall, it’s not great, but it is good, and it’s got plenty of bits in it to amuse chapter-readers who are looking for something gross to read. Nothing Left to Ooze is available on Amazon.
Title: Nothing Left to Ooze | Series: Zombie Chasers #5 | Author: John Kloepfer (site) | Illustrator: David DeGrand | Publisher: HarperCollins (site) | Pub. Date: 2014-1-21 | Pages: 224 | ISBN13: 9780062230980 | Genre: Kids Fiction | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 4 out of 5 | Date Read: 2016-6-24 | Source: Library
