Kate Walden Directs: Bride of Slug Man by Julie Mata (review)

Readers who enjoyed following Kate through friendship drama and cinematic triumph in Night of the Zombie Chickens (BCCB 6/14) will be glad to find her planning her second film, Bride of Slug Man. This time, however, she’s plagued by competition—a new boy named Tristan, who also enjoys making movies, has moved to town—and bullies Paul and Blake are sabotaging her auditions. Kate’s stalwart band of friends stands behind her, and she enlists the help of her spy-crazy little brother, Derek, to make movie magic and outwit the bullies. While the B-movie title is misleadingly campy, there are solid gold nuggets of insight here regarding the miscues, motivations, and minefields of seventh-grade group dynamics, all related with a broadly appealing, self-deprecating wit. Kate makes mistakes and claims them, expanding on the hard-won empathy she learned in the previous book. This time around, her imagined competition with Tristan nearly costs her what matters most in her filmmaking—the joy of it—but a gentle reminder from her mother sets her back on the right track. This has become a series to watch, with elements that appeal across genders and interest areas; while some readers will come for the wisely handled relationships and relatable humor, Kate’s explanations of movie-making craft and special effects will have budding auteurs reaching for their cameras, Super Soakers, and green-tinted condensed milk.