Zomboy by Zack

     As you can probably tell my book is zomboy by Kenneth Opple a good book buts as most people in the class said the ending is really bad, like really bad...... It is so bad i can't even the ending but enough of hating on the ending lets continue the blog. But seriously....    

     Ok lets actually begin. I guess I will give a brief summary if you wish you make the summary  into a song thats fine I will try to make it rhyme but I may have been too lazy to do it. Aright so there was a zomboy(but they don't know that yet) named Imre and but he is not the main character the main character is actually some guy named Bob and a female protagonist whose name is Evil-o but her real name is Olive she just likes her name backwards.(tee hee) So Evil-o likes Imre but Bob hates him, then some things happen and Imre gets hit by a piano so they find out that he is a zomboy. There are lots of protests but Evil-o is one of the only ones that like Imre, there is also in Imre's military bus thing.(I would tell you what is in the bus but I don't want to spoil the book just yet) Next, Imre saves Bob from a bully and this dog and after that Bob starts to like him because of that because of that people came to do a documentary on them but it never got out because of military things. They went to Imre's house and there are real zombies and they try to kill Bob and Evil-o. At the end it turns from nice and good plot into a gory blood bath, it was crap. Sometimes the plot is boring but it good most of the time with some. So basically the theme was acceptance and racism but then no they just had to add action and some minor characters die and at the end it hinted of romance between Bob and Evil-o but then it just ends just like that.

I give the plot 2/5 it sucked and the theme 3/5 so meh.

     The characters are very good and develop well but Bob isn't well explained, also they have barely any physical descriptions for the characters. Bob is unintelligent and a germaphobe but he's like sherlock he can figure out random things from things that are completely unrelated to the things he's trying to figure out. I think the author did this so the book wouldn't last forever. The characters didn't really change much during the book and the minor characters are sort of useless until the crap ending. Even when the minor characters where zombies they were still useless. Really Kenneth Opple could at least have made some more useful characters and it was mostly to fill in space. 

I give it 2-3/5 it sorta sucks?

     I really liked the voice of the story it was the best thing in the book. The voice inn the book was Bob's and I think he makes the story really funny and it sounded likes the story is real. Sometimes it's a little weird and awkward but still it's pretty good. I think this was really good but it still doesn't make up for the ending. I give it a 4-5/5 really good.

     The setting of the story was in Dresden, Ontario. They were mainly at their school but they were also at Bob's house alot. They also went to places in town and Imre's house. Imre's house was described the most because the ending was at Imre's house,(which sucked) the other places were barely described so we didn't really know whats going on but it didn't really matter all that much. I like that the places are pretty real but I don't like that the places weren't described that well.                            I give it a 3/5 it meh

        

     I give it a 2.9/5 so bad but the ending still sucked. I really like some parts of the book but others were just bad.....just bad....(wink wink nudge nudge the ending) I did't like the plot but the voice and the theme was good. The setting was bad and most of the characters are useless. The book could be so good but the author just didn't add the extra things that the book needed. It had it's good parts and it's bad parts, I won't recommend this book just because the ending.     

  

Zomboy - Tori

Zomboy

By: Richard Scrimger

“Unique and sharply funny, Zomboy is a big-hearted winner.”                                                                

                                                                                           –Kenneth Oppel

Plot

After surviving a nuclear blast, young Imre Lazar is transformed into a zombie. Oh! Sorry, I meant to say zomboy. After being “adopted” by the military, he is placed in a normal classroom, in a normal school; located in Ontario. Bob-along with a large majority of the town-are highly against Imre being in a school (and/or class) and socializing with the living.

However Evil-O, Bob’s best friend, seems very fond of Imre. After a period of time, Imre becomes an internet sensation, even receiving his own T.V show documenting his life. People all over the world begin to discover his many talents (most of them perks of being undead) 

and finally Bob begins to open up and accept this strange new student. But just when Bob is becoming comfortable around Imre, he begins to notice some strange things that are happening in Imre’s private life that’s not being filmed; and the suspicious, angry attitude that Imre’s military “guardian” held was not helping the case. Imre eventually tells Bob his secret…but it put the whole town at risk when he was finally being accepted for his differences, and more importantly, Bob and Evil-O’s friendship is ultimately put to the test.

I think that the story line was very interesting; it certainly kept me interested throughout the novel and portrayed a very strong message about accepting other people's differences. The plot generally flowed smoothly, with no repetitiveness throughout the story. However there were times when I was a bit bored but there were also times when I felt very excited to keep reading!

Voice

This was a narrative first person perspective novel, told from Bob’s point of view. I think that this was a good idea because Richard Scrimger described Bob’s feelings and emotions very well throughout the novel and you can sense whenever Bob is feeling sad, happy, jealous, scared etc. However, I think this novel could be improved by adding in sections that were written in Imre’s or Evil-O’s point of view because both of these characters had very interesting stories and I would have liked to see how they react to certain situations as well as compare their character development to Bob’s.

Setting

This story took place in Dresden, Ontario.

At some points of the novel, the author does briefly describe the town and weather: “Dresden is flat, but I walked home feeling like every step was uphill.” In which I assumed that Dresden doesn't have many hills."The sun was about to pop out from behind a fluffy cloud," in which I assumed that Dresden generally has nice weather in September (which is when the story takes place) and "Dinky little trees stood on front lawns up and down Westwood Avenue like soldiers on a parade," in which I assumed that Bob and Evil-O lived in a fairly new community because the trees are small and newly grown. Near the end, it also states that Imre trudges into a cornfield, in which I assumed that his house was located away from the rural community and out in the country, looking something like this:

Aside from those facts, the author (Richard Scrimger) didn't describe any other specific details about what the setting looked like. However, I sometimes like that about books, because you can fully use your imagination. Most of the story takes place in their school, though with no specific details. There are also parts of the story that take place in Bob’s house, Imre’s house, Evil-O’s house and generally outside (walking or biking down the street, sitting on porches or in backyards etc.).

Characters

The three main characters in this novel were Bob, Imre and Evil-O. I think that the characters were well conceived and written because they all have very different, unique personalities. Bob is the shy, neat freak; Evil-O is the crazy, carefree friend and Imre is, well, he's Imre. He can fall off two story buildings onto concrete, split pianos in half and eventually becomes a celebrity. I think that this plot really shows how Bob generally grows and matures as a person and gradually accepts other people's differences, while Evil-O is nice and accepting from the beginning, and Imre grows to trust people other than his military "guardians."

Some of the other characters would be Susan, who was part of the town's protest against Imre being in a school/class with the living along with her mother. 

Calvin is the bully of the school, he hates everyone and abuses Bob verbally and physically many times. Gezink is the very strange, geeky character that is constantly hanging around Bob, Evil-O and Imre. I also think that it is interesting how all the characters in Bob's class falls into a classic stereotype. For instance, Susan is the teacher's pet and she'll do anything to be the favourite. Andrew is the nerd of the class, sitting at the front so he can answer any question that comes up. Debbie and Dakota are the mean divas etc. I think that all of the characters are very much believable (except for Imre) because I have met people who resemble the personalities of the characters in this book. There was a wide variety of personalities within the novel and I think that they all fit in with the story very well.

Theme

I think the theme of the book would definitely be humor, with some action and romance thrown into the mix. There were multiple parts in the novel that made me smile or even laugh out loud. For example, when Imre is overly gloomy, when Bob makes a bad joke or that one part when someone gets stung by a hornet. Bob also develops a romantic interest in Evil-O, and becomes highly jealous when Evil-O befriends Imre. 

Near the end, there is an action, suspense part (no spoilers!).   

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think this book was enjoyable to read. My favourite thing about the storyline/plot would be how Bob's character matured into a better person and finally accepted Imre's differences, while learning to stand up for himself and the others around him. 

This also teaches the readers to accept people for who they are. I do think it could be improved by including parts where the story is viewed from Evil-O and/or Imre's perspective. I also like how the characters in the book are all contrasting and the plot included no repetitiveness. Using your imagination to picture the setting of this novel is pleasant as well.

In the end, I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars ^-^