In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Broxo
  • Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor
Giallongo, Zack. Broxo; written and illus. by Zack Giallongo. First Second/Roaring Brook, 2012. 240p. ISBN 978-1-59643-551-3 $16.99 R Gr. 6–8.

After an arduous journey up Peryton Peak, Princess Zora reaches the summit only to be disappointed: the mountain is seemingly abandoned, the Peryton clan vanished, and with it Zora’s hopes of uniting the five clans of Penthos and proving her value to her family. If that weren’t bad enough, she’s soon chased by a walking corpse hungry for her flesh, and she has to be rescued by Broxo, a scrappy, uncouth boy who attempts to feed her lizards and refuses to discuss the fate of the missing clan. Meanwhile, the only other human resident of the mountain, a witch named Ulith, is keeping a close eye on the two teenagers, and it’s clear that she and her minions (two ferret-like creatures, a wolflike monster, etc.) have plans for Zora and Broxo, but whether for good or for ill remains undetermined until the very end. Magic, zombies, adventure, and a bit of humor all converge in this well-paced graphic novel. Characters are surprisingly well-developed, considering the book’s brevity: Zora, Broxo, and Ulith are all haunted by their past in some way or another, and flashbacks (signified by a shift in a palette dominated by mossy, muted greens to sepia tones) imbue each of the three characters with a significant backstory without detracting from the main story arc. The full-color illustrations on glossy pages are both striking and economical, with simple expressions and color changes easily conveying shifts in character mood, environment, or time. While this is lighter on the gross factor than some zombie tales, with the more gruesome violence generally taking place offstage, the final act that Broxo must commit to save Zora and himself is both graphic and heartbreaking. Out of the horde of zombie books as of late, this one has plenty to satisfy a middle-schooler craving action and emotion.

...

pdf

Share