Reviewed by Linda Schoen-Giddings
Science Consultant - SCDoE
With the popularity of vampire books and movies today, can you imagine a student’s excitement when seeing this book's title? How cool! And it’s science…carefully researched and documented. The zombie–makers take control of animals by injecting them either through the bloodstream or brain. They may be a fungus, a parasite, another insect, or a worm, each of which have a different means of creating their zombie “slaves."
Clear, close–up photographs (some on a microscopic level) document both the process of paralysis and the results, which are described on a behavioral level as well as a cellular level. After the general description of the zombie–making process, there follows a section titled “The Science behind the Story." The biology and physiology is described at a middle school level so that students can understand not only the behavior and life cycles, but what is happening internally in the host animals.
As the additional “icing on the cake” the scientists who researched the phenomena are documented and their experiments and research activities are described. I highly recommend this book that will appeal to all readers. Teachers, please give your students a chance to enjoy this book too!
Review posted on 12/3/2012
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