Gravediggers: Mountain of Bones
You can&#x2019;t reach into a YA bookshelf these days without risking zombie infection, but Krovatin has done something fairly unusual here. It&#x2019;s not some tweak on zombie rules; rather, it&#x2019;s a seriousness rarely seen in zombie books for this age range. A nature program in the Montana mountains goes awry when 11-year-olds Ian (the wild one), Kendra (the brain), and PJ (the geek) get lost, cross over a forboding stone fence covered with painted sigils, and take refuge inside a cabin where they find a book labeled &#x201C;READ ME TO LIVE.&#x201D; Enter the zombies&#x2014;the hungry corpses of a lost dance troupe called the Pine City Dancers&#x2014;who shamble after our trio as they hunt for the alleged witch who began this curse. One part wilderness survival story and one part grueling horror, Krovatin&#x2019;s text lends the characters and events just enough realism to give the plot a welcome weight, without entirely sacrificing the middle-grade attitude (&#x201C;I think I see a bone sticking out of it, yeech&#x201D;). A clever opener to what looks to be a series. Grades 6-9. --Daniel Kraus