School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-5-Six-and-a-half-year-old Rebecca is determined not to be turned into a zombie. Rebecca encounters a flu virus while playing in her backyard and narrowly escapes its attacks thanks to the help of Ernest, a microbe who is her best pal. Rebecca identifies her aggressor as a zombie virus on account of its hideous appearance and its ability to turn those it bites into hunched-over, slobbering, feverish versions of themselves, not unlike zombies. And when the epidemic spread of the virus throughout the school results in near-empty classrooms, the girl's teacher, Mr. Rebaud, helps lift the mood of the class by inviting them to do something spontaneous and nonsensical. Bianco's dialogue works well alongside Dalena's illustrations, and both nicely punctuate the heightened situations the characters find themselves in, particularly Rebecca, who is driven to solve the problem. A great deal of emotion is conveyed through the images, which typically are character-focused with minimal or blank panel backgrounds. Much of the art is from Rebecca's perspective, emphasizing a viewpoint akin to readers'. The panels are small, as is the text, so expect to see kids with noses close to the page, though this does not detract from the overall experience of the story. Readers new to the series need not have read previous installments in order to enjoy this entry.-Matthew C. Winner, Ducketts Lane Elementary School, Elkridge, MD (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Rebecca is a precocious six-and-a-half-year-old who loves her family, ketchup, chasing frogs, and, most of all, her best friend a tough but cheerful microbe named Ernest. When a nasty flu virus starts infecting all of her classmates and threatens to bite her, too, she looks to Ernest, her favorite antibody, to protect her. In the meantime, Rebecca worries about her ill grandfather and admires her teacher, Mr. Rebaud, who encourages his students to be silly when they're feeling glum, since laughter is the best medicine. Overall, this title is a bit all over the place. Tomboy Rebecca is an endearing heroine, and the art and graphics are fun, stylishly exaggerated, and colorful. Some readers, however, might be thrown off by the more juvenile look of the art: this slim volume also covers some heavier topics, such as a hospitalized grandfather, divorced parents who are starting new relationships, and a depressed older sister getting over a breakup. Younger readers will likely get a kick out of the manga-inspired art and cheery kid protagonist.--Mack, Candice Copyright 2014 Booklist