Kate Walden Directs: Night of the Zombie Chickens by Julie Mata (review)

Kate is making the most of her family’s new home in the country, using her mother’s organically raised chickens as the titular zombies in her first movie while her longtime best friend, Alyssa, screams bloody murder in the starring role. Soon, though, Alyssa and popular girl Lydia bond, and when Alyssa readily joins Lydia in ridiculing Kate, Kate finds herself ostracized by all but the dorkiest kids in her seventh-grade class. Intent on making Alyssa experience the same pain and humiliation she feels, Kate sets out to teach her a lesson, ignoring her own better judgment and the advice of her mother and newfound friends. Mata takes shopworn plot elements—middle-school social politics, tension between tweens and parents—and subtly but powerfully illuminates them with Kate’s movie-making, transforming a potentially minor subplot ultimately into an object lesson in the sustaining and enriching power of personal projects. Readers struggling to maintain their sense of self when faced with the consuming dramas of middle school could benefit from spending time with Kate, who continues work on her film despite the teasing of her classmates and absence of her leading lady, not to mention the self-doubt that often plagues artists. The book also encourages empathy as Kate struggles to better understand those around her, including popular, careless Lydia, who is presented here without caricature. Similarly, Kate’s struggles to support her mother’s organic farming dream mirror many a twelve-year-old girl’s battle to overcome her baser emotions with more magnanimous thinking. Girls struggling to be their best selves will find Kate a relatable, enjoyable, and admirable companion on their journey.