Zombelina is an adorable little zombie girl who loves dancing. She boogies with bats and glides like a ghost. When she gets carried away, her mom drops her off at dance class. Unfortunately, things don’t go so well. Her human classmates don’t like her, but she practices every day anyway.

When the day of the recital arrives, Zombelina freezes. She can’t dance. When someone screams, Zombelina’s classmates and the audience flee. Wondering what to do, she hears a familiar sound. Finally, with her family there, Zombelina gives a dance performance to remember.

The Bottom Line: This is the charming tale of a little girl who just loves to dance. Told in rhyming verse with colorful illustrations, children ages 4 – 8 will enjoy this tale with a spooky setting.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog. ( )

Zombelina loved to dance. She moonwalked with mummies, boogied with bats, and wiggled with werewolves. Finally her mother enrolled her in ballet classes with Madame Maladroit, who praised her amazing extension. Everything seemed to be going well, until the night of Zombelina's ballet recital, when the little zombie girl froze on stage, frightening her fellow performers, and the entire audience. Fortunately, her loving family was there to lend their support, and to make sure Zombelina's dreams came true...

The first of three picture-books about this little zombie ballerina, Zombelina pairs an engaging tale told in rhyme - "I quivered and shivered right down to my bones. / I held out my arms and I made a few moans. / "A ZOMBIE!" the crowd cried with horrified screams. / This wasn't the ballet debut of my dreams." - with cute, colorful artwork. Having already enjoyed many of illustrator Molly Idle's other books, especially those about Flora (another little dancer), I wasn't surprised to discover that the visuals here were very appealing, although I was interested to see how she would make zombies (not my favorite spooky creatures!) appealing. Recommended to anyone looking for kinder, gentler children's stories about zombies, or for those searching for quirky ballerina picture-books. ( )

"Zombelina" is a Halloween-themed story about young Zombelina, a zombie who loves to dance. She takes up ballet classes and ends up loving dancing even more. This story rhymes and has a nice flow when you read it, making it more enjoyable. The writing itself is easy to read but there are some dance-related vocabulary words that could confuse children. However, I think the story could be a bit more unpredictable. By the time I reached the recital, I knew what was going to happen. The art is well done. This book is probably better suited for older elementary students. If I were to use this book in my classroom, I would use it to teach about the importance of family and I would probably use it in October.

A zombie girl enjoys dancing and signs up for a ballet class. She freezes on stage at her recital, but her family helps her through. Silly rhyming text and it totally amused me. ( )

A zombie girl enjoys dancing and signs up for a ballet class. She freezes on stage at her recital, but her family helps her through. Silly rhyming text and it totally amused me. ( )