The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins says this paranormal action-adventure “breathes new life into the zombie genre” and has “a terrific twist of an ending.” Most kids have enough to deal with between school, homework, extracurricular activities, and friends, but Molly Bigelow has something else on her list: hunting zombies. By day, Molly attends MIST—the Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology—but outside the classroom she’s busy dealing with the undead. Because not only do zombies exist, they’re everywhere, and it’s her job to help police them and keep the peace. Sure, she’d like to be a regular kid, but given that her mother was the most revered (or feared, depending on your perspective) zombie hunter in the history of New York City, “regular” just isn’t possible. Molly’s got some legendary footsteps to follow—and some undeadly consequences if she fails. How did seventh-grader Molly Bigelow become a “superhero zombie terminator”? Blame her deceased mother, who was part of an underground force known as Omega and whose gifts have been passed on to Molly. The Omega mission: “to police and protect the undead.” Decades ago, a Manhattan subway drilling accident created the Unlucky 13s, the original zombies, and they have proliferated ever since, though most aren’t bad sorts—except for the bloodthirsty Level 3s. While senior Omega team members Natalie, Alex, and Grayson teach Molly the ins and outs of undead interaction, a mystery hatches: why is one of the Unlucky 13s after them, and why does he want Molly’s mother’s old copy of Little Women? This is no splatter fest; rather, the mostly bloodless fight scenes take a backseat to a good old-fashioned mystery with loads of clever puzzle breaking (Omegas send secret messages via the letters and numbers of the periodic table). Put this right alongside other wry early teen updates of classic monsters, such as Jason Henderson’s Alex Van Helsing series (vampires), Steve Feasey’s Wereling series (werewolves), and Maureen Johnson’s Shades of London series (ghosts). Grades 5-8. --Daniel Kraus In Dead City , James Ponti cleverly weaves Manhattan history into an action-packed plot to breathe new life into the zombie genre. Brainy, funny, and socially baffled Molly Bigelow makes for an irresistible narrator as she drives the story to a terrific twist of an ending. If I’d had the next installment, I’d have dived right in.—Suzanne Collins, author of THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy "In Ponti’s breezy and adventure-driven story, readers follow Molly and the Omegas as they connect the dots between the explosion, Little Women , the Dewey Decimal System and the Periodic Table of Elements. It works. Ponti incorporates New York City sights and gory zombie descriptions in a quick transit to an exciting finale with high-blown dramatics and a surprisingly tender moment. A fast-paced read for those who like their zombies with just a little fright." - Kirkus Reviews, September 2012 James Ponti is the New York Times bestselling author of four middle grade book series: The Sherlock Society following a group of young detectives; City Spies, about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the world who form an elite MI6 Spy Team; the Edgar Award–winning Framed! series, about a pair of tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, DC; and the Dead City trilogy, about a secret society that polices the undead living beneath Manhattan. His books have appeared on more than fifteen different state award lists, and he is the founder of a writers group known as the Renegades of Middle Grade. James is also an Emmy–nominated television writer and producer who has worked for many networks including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, History, and Spike TV, as well as NBC Sports. He lives with his family in Orlando, Florida. Find out more at JamesPonti.com. Dead City You’re Probably Wondering Why There’s a Dead Body in the Bathroom . . . I hate zombies. I know that sounds prejudiced. I’m sure some zombies are really nice to kittens and love their parents. But it’s been my experience that most are not the kind of people you want sending you friend requests. Consider my current situation. Instead of eating pizza with my teammates as they celebrate my surprise victory at the St. Andrew’s Prep fencing tournament, I’m trapped in a locker-room toilet stall. With a dead body. It’s not exactly the Saturday I had planned. I wasn’t even supposed to compete in the tournament. Since most of the girls on the team are juniors and seniors and I’m in seventh grade, I was just going to be an alternate. But Hannah Gilbert didn’t show up, and I filled in for her at the last moment. Five matches later my teammates were jumping up and down and pouring Gatorade on my head. And that was the first problem. I may not be the girliest girl, but I didn’t really want to ride the subway with sticky orange hair. So I decided to clean up while everyone else headed down to the pizzeria to get a table and ord