BETTER OFF UNDEAD, by James Preller

The story: Adrian Lazarus was hit by a car, and now he's dead...or rather, undead. He was never popular before, but now everyone's afraid of him (except Daryl, the school bully). Even worse, sicko billionaires the Bork brothers want to slice and dice him to see whether they can come up with the secret to living forever. It's up to Adrian and his three not-quite-normal friends to see if they can beat the bully and outwit the bad guys. Right after they get Adrian to quit eating roadkill.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language G: Violence PG; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult PG; GLBT content G; adult themes (the undead) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: In truth, this is less a zombie story than it is a loner-gets-some-friends story. Any kid who feels on the bottom end of the social pecking order will identify with Adrian and cheer for him as he develops a social conscience along with some new friendships. Since the bad guys got away, and since it looks like Adrian might be coming back to life courtesy of his strange friend Gia Demeter, be on the lookout for at least one more volume.