ALA Booklist (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Gross, creepy, and hilarious, the latest simple chapter book about the young, mischievous grade-schooler Stink has even parents, teachers, and other grown-ups joining in the nonsense as they all celebrate the joy of reading. Guts, brains, and eyeballs are everywhere, even in the school vomiteria, which serves scrambled brains and freshly squeezed eyeball juice. Kids will love the gruesome wordplay, and the digital artwork extends the uproar with spooky shadows like giant cobwebs and body parts, while zombies in school uniforms lurch down Main Street. Perfect for Halloween, this will make fun reading all year round.

Horn Book (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Stink's school is working to log one million reading hours the same week the new "Nightmare on Zombie Street" book is released. Stink and Webster try to raise money to buy the book while enjoying zombie-themed activities. Sibling rivalry, school antics, and friendship drive the story; accompanying black-and-white cartoons include wacky information such as how to "zombify yourself."

Kirkus Reviews (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades. This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: "Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie's eye fell off and rolled across the floor." The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds' drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald's feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows "strong hearts and minds," as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value. A playful salute to those who (kind of…well, not really) like things that go bump in the night. (Fiction. 5-8)

School Library Journal (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

D'LACEY, Chris &; Jay D'Lacey . Rain &; Fire . 304p. Scholastic / Orchard . 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-41453-1 . LC 2012014374. Gr 5-8 A companion guide to the Last Dragon Chronicles . Gr 58 FREDERICK, Heather Vogel . Wish You Were Eyre . 464p. (The Mother Daughter Book Club Series). S &; S. 2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-3064-8 ; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4423-4199-9 . Gr 69 FRIEDMAN, Laurie . Mallory and Mary Take New York . Bk. 19. illus. by Jennifer Kalis. 152p. Darby Creek . Mar. 2013. Tr $15.95. ISBN 978-0-7613-6074-2 ; ebook $11.95. ISBN 978-1-4677-0962-0 . LC 2012019008. Gr 35 GUTMAN, Dan . Miss Kraft Is Daft! Bk. 7. illus. by Jim Paillot. 112p. (My Weirder School Series). HarperCollins / Harper . Jan. 2013. pap. $3.99. ISBN 978-0-06-204215-6 . Gr 23 GUTMAN, Dan . You Only Die Twice . Bk. 3. 289p. (The Genius Files Series). HarperCollins / Harper . Feb. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-182770-9 ; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-182771-6 ; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-220284-0 . Gr 58 HOLUB, Joan &; Suzanne Williams . Pandora the Curious . Bk. 9. 256p. (Goddess Girls Series). S &; S / Aladdin . 2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-5975-5 ; pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4935-0 ; ebook $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4936-7 . Gr 36 IRWIN, Bindi &; Chris Kunz . Bindi: Behind the Scenes: The Wildlife Games . 192p. Trafalgar Square . Feb. 2013. pap. $11.99. ISBN 978-1-86471-839-3 . Gr 36 KAIN, P.G. Dramatic Pause . Bk. 3. 288p. (Commercial Breaks Series). S &; S / Aladdin . 2012. pap. $6.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-9788-7 ; ebook $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-9791-7 . LC 2012948208. Gr 58 KESSLER, Liz . Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun . Bk. 5. illus. by Natacha Ledwidge. 272p. Candlewick . Feb. 2013. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5824-3 . Gr 46 KINNEY, Jeff . The Third Wheel . Bk. 7. illus. by author. 224p. (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series). Abrams / Amulet . 2012. Tr $13.95. ISBN 978-1-4197-0584-7 . Gr 4–8 LASKY, Kathryn . Star Wolf . Bk 6. 246p. (Wolves of the Beyond Series). Scholastic . Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-27962-8 . LC 2012029320. Gr 4–6 MCCLINTOCK, Norah . Change of Heart . Bk. 7. 218p. ISBN 978-0-7613-8317-8 ; ISBN 978-1-4677-0701-5 ; ISBN 978-1-4677-0963-7 . MCCLINTOCK, Norah . In Too Deep . Bk. 8. 224p. ISBN 978-0-7613-8318-5 ; ISBN 978-1-4677-0702-2 ; ISBN 978-1-4677-0964-4 . ea vol: (A Robyn Hunter Mystery). Darby Creek . Mar. 2013. Tr $27.93; pap. $8.95; ebook $20.95. Gr 6 Up MCDONALD, Megan . Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout . Bk. 8. illus. by Peter H. Reynolds. 160p. Candlewick . Feb. 2013. Tr $12.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6140-3 ; pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6422-0 . Gr 1–3 MATT AND DAVE . Yuck's Fart Club . illus. by Nigel Baines. S &; S. 112 p. Jan. 2013. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-8153-4 ; pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-8152-7 ; ebook $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-8154-1 . LC 2012027627. Gr 3–4 PILKEY, Dav . Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers . Bk. 10. illus. by author. 224p. Scholastic . Jan. 2013. pap. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-545-17536-4 . LC 2012944030. Gr 3–6 RIORDAN, Rick . The Mark of Athena . Bk. 3. 608p. (The Heroes of Olympus Series). Hyperion / Disney . 2012. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-1-4231-4060-3 . LC 2012017264. Gr 5–9 SELFORS, Suzanne . Smells Like Pirates . Bk. 3. 384p. (Smells Like Dog Series). Little, Brown . 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-316-20596-2 . LC 2012028738. Gr 4–7 SMITH, Roland . I, Q: Kitty Hawk . Bk. 3. 230p. (I, Q Series). Sleeping Bear . 2012. Tr $15.95. ISBN 978-1-58536-605-7 ; pap. $8.95. ISBN 978-1-58536-604-0 . Gr 5–8 SNIEGOSKI, Tom . Quest for the Spark . Bk. 3. illus. by Jeff Smith. 288p. (Bone Series). Scholastic / Graphix . Jan. 2013. Tr $22.99. ISBN 978-0-545-14105-5 ; pap. $10.99. ISBN 978-0-545-14106-2 . LC 2012025128. Gr 4–8