Russell Middlebrook Series

Hartinger, Brent. Geography Club, The Order of the Poison Oak, Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, and The Elephant of Surprise. Buddha Kitty Books.

I first read Hartinger's Geography Club a few years ago, when I was catching up on my LGBT books for teens. The story focuses on Russell, Min, and Gunner, who attend the same high school and end up starting a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) at their school. 

The next books in the series follow the same characters - Poison Oak deals with summer camp, Brain Zombies has to do with a movie being filmed in their town, and Elephant tackles the topic of freeganism.  The books are harmless fun, predictable, and have a few small plot twists that may surprise younger readers. I enjoyed each one as a quick fix of "brain candy" for an hour or so.

However, I have realized (having read the second and third books in one day and the fourth book the following day) that these books are following the standard of the Babysitters Club books from decades ago: tell the same basic story, with the same characters, changing just enough so that people continue to read.  If you like series fiction like that, these books are perfect for you.  However, if you want to read things that are completely different from each other, pick one of these books and skip the other three. If I had to pick just one, I'd probably read Poison Oak. It's my favorite.

And no, I don't know what a brain zombie is.  

Zombie in Love

DiPucchio, Kelly. Zombie in Love. Atheneum, 2011.

Mortimer just wants to find true love.  He's tried wooing the postal worker at his door, the waitress at the diner, and anyone who is near him. He reads books about how to win the love of his life, but nothing's working.  Finally, he puts out at ad to see if someone will meet him by the punch bowl at the Valentine's Day dance.  And just when he thinks it's over, someone comes to meet him, a girl who will love all of Mortimer's zombiness.

Rot and Ruin

Maberry, Jonathan. Rot and Ruin. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010.

Benny is about to turn fifteen.  At fifteen he has to find a job or his rations will be cut off.  The last thing Benny wants to do is join his brother Tom in the zombie killing business, but it turns out to be Benny's only option.  Tom takes Benny with him into the land beyond the protective fence, and Benny soon learns that killing zombies isn't as easy or as boring as he originally thought.  And one of the other bounty hunters is collecting orphans for the Zombie Games.  Tom and Benny have got to locate the game arena and rescue the kids before it's too late.

Okay, so this is a zombie story.  Already some of you are rolling your eyes that I even stooped to read this book.  But this isn't an ordinary zombie book.  Really.  The zombies aren't the focus in this book; the focus is on civilization and the hope of the future generation to change things and to go beyond simply surviving to thriving in a post-apocalyptic world. 

I was surprisingly impressed with this book, and it managed to hold my interest all the way to the end.  I won't be adding it to my personal library any time soon, but it was worth checking out of the library.