In his fourth installment of The Last Kids on Earth series, Max Brallier delivers another exciting tale, packed with heroism and humor. Jack and his friends must once again fight off shambling hordes of zombies, evil monsters, and a new type of villain – the human mastermind. The story contains the heartwarming focus on friendship and loyalty that readers have come to expect from the series. Jack and his friends are likeable characters, and they stand by each other. This aspect of community and togetherness is further emphasized by the setting of the story, which takes place at Christmas time. It was entertaining to see how the characters try to make the most of a post-apocalyptic Christmas.

Brailler’s humor is refreshing and keeps the zombie and monster content of the book from being overwhelmingly dark, and his pop culture references will please adults as well as his intended kid audience. In fact, some of the references may be missed by younger readers or may have the happy consequences of inspiring them to look up the movie or book being mentioned in order to understand the joke. But obscure references are few and far-between and definitely won’t detract from the enjoyment of younger readers.

Note: This book is a sequel, and while it can be enjoyed even without the previous books, it contains major spoilers for the books that come before it in the series. So readers who intend to read the preceding books should read them first.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Viking

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  A character is almost eaten by a monster; a friendly king of the hill match; a snowball fight; a zombie’s head is spun around (comic); a few verbal threats; report that monsters eat raw flesh; mention of monster guts; discussion of a plan to turn someone into a zombie; a character is carried against his will; several fights involving  humans and monsters resulting in no major injury; a character is minorly injured in a fall; a character eats an eyeball; a monster loses a body part (this is not graphic or bloody); a creepy scene in which a character becomes progressively more zombie-like; a somewhat gross scene involving disembodied eyeballs, which is disturbing even though it has a bit of humor; a tense scene in which a character is trapped as a monster approaches; characters are suspended upside down above monsters; a home is destroyed; a character is bitten by a monster; a building is partially destroyed by supernatural forces; a vehicle is destroyed; a few items of property are destroyed. Since this book is illustrated, it contains many drawings of zombies and other scary monsters, but these are drawn comically and not in a graphic or bloody way.

Sex/Nudity:  A character thinks of the object of his affection (an inanimate possession), and it is illustrated surrounded by hearts and cupids; mention of people “making out” on TV shows; the term “French kiss” is used in a joke.

Mature Subject Matter:

Theft, separation from family, a character is an orphan, most of the world’s population is dead or turned into zombies, kidnapping.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None