Today's read hit the shelves already in October of 2015, has won more than a few prizes, and done extremely well ever since. And somehow, I didn't know it existed. Well, it's time to correct that problem, since this promises to be quite the adventure. I'm not usually a zombie fan, so we'll see how that aspect rolls, but the monster battles sound like they could be interesting. I'm hoping there's tons of humor worked in, too, since that could make an amazing mix.
Let's open up this first book in the series and find out why it's done so well.
THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH
Book 1
by Max Brallier
Illustrated by Douglas Holgate
Penguin Random House
Middle Grade Dystopian
256 pages
ages 8 to 11
Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average thirteen year old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he's armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hoards of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So Jack builds a team: his dorky best friend, Quint; the reformed middle school bully, Dirk; Jack's loyal pet monster, Rover; and Jack's crush, June. With their help, Jack is going to slay Blarg, achieve the ultimate Feat of Apocalyptic Success, and be average no longer! Can he do it?
MY TIDBITS
Get ready for action and humor and heart and suspense and danger and silliness and so much to make this simply a fun read all the way through.
Jack is a thirteen-year-old orphan, who was kind of settling into his latest foster home, but before things got to normal with his first best friend, the Monster Apocalypse ruined everything. Jack is the last survivor in town...or he hopes he isn't, but for the last 42 days, he hasn't seen anything to convince him otherwise. When a trip to a CVS and the meeting of the first monster he can't handle, finally, leads to him fixing his walkie-talkie, he can't believe that his best friend is still alive! Now, Jack has to find a way to cross town, surviving masses of zombies and all sorts of deadly monsters. But this won't be his only adventure because while it'd be super cool to have his friend at his side again, Jack also has to fulfill one of his biggest missions as a self-declared apocalypse fighter—save the damsel in distress. If the damsel is still alive, and if he can find her, that is. Then, there's the entire question as to whether or not he'll survive the next day because that's a constant problem in his new reality.
In some ways (and very loosely), this reminds me of Wimpy Kid, just with monsters and zombies and action hero excitement on constant overdrive. So, not really Wimpy Kid in the slightest. Still Jack packs tons of personality as readers join him in his head and tackling one tense situation after the next. He's an action hero to root for and with to join if the Monster Apocalypse did happen to hit. While he's battling monsters with grapefruit juice, broken bats, and more, he's not without heart. Jack doesn't want to kill zombies since they were once regular people. The touch of humanity and his self-declared goals make him easy to like. Plus, his quirky ideas are ridiculous and, yet, oh-so fun to follow.
The illustrations/graphics are very well done and bring the world to life. The monsters pack tons of imagination, and the battles sit with tension pure. Even the humor hits with more smiles as Jack takes on the world...or deals with the odder aspects of being alone in life and living in a tree house. These visuals work hand-in-hand with the text to form an addicting world and characters to enjoy.
This series has been out for around a decade and still is worth a peek. Not only monster fans will enjoy the chaos, but anyone who love quirky adventures is sure to get lost in the pages. Even reluctant readers won't mind opening this one up. I'm looking forward to seeing what lies in store for Jack and his friends next because it's sure to be a huge, exciting surprise.
