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Young adult book reviews for ages 12 and up - middle school and high school students




*Generation Dead* by Daniel Waters- young adult book review  
Generation Dead
by Daniel Waters
Grades 7+ 400 pages Hyperion May 2008 Hardcover    

Imagine if you went to high school with reanimated dead kids. That's the idea Daniel Waters bases his new book on. At Oakvale High School, there are the normal cliques one would find at any high school across America, but there's also one more: dead kids.

It's the breathing kids against the zombies until one boy, Tommy the zombie, develops a crush on Phoebe (who is most decidedly not a zombie). This, coupled with Tommy trying out for the football team, leads the whole school to split into two camps: one in favor of full zombie integration and one against it.

What drew me to Generation Dead was the cover. I liked the image of a zombie in a cheerleading outfit and, perhaps because of the cover, I thought this book would be funnier than it turned out to be. That's not to say that Generation Dead isn't interesting – it is. And despite attending a high school filled with zombies, the underlying love triangle is realistically portrayed.

My only complaint is that the narrative is very slow moving. While the story ultimately pays off, readers have to slog through a lot to get there. The plot moves exceptionally slow at times, making it difficult to sustain interest in the storyline, especially due to a significant amount of narration and internal monologue.

Though this book is marketed at as YA novel, it may appeal more to adult readers who have the intellectual stamina to follow the book's meandering path. The message, however, is one that should resonate with all ages: stereotypes do more to divide us than the differences between us ever can.
 
Young adult book reviews for ages 12 and up - middle school and high school students

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