Reviewed by: Zombie Train by David Macinnis Gill April Spisak Gill, David Macinnis Zombie Train. Greenwillow, 2024 [288p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063116511 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063116535 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-7 In Gill's apocalyptic scenario, zombies are everywhere, and survivors are few and scattered—and short-lived, as everyone turns into a zombie via a parasite when they hit adolescence. One group of tweens has joined together on a train that never stops, constantly tracing out a loop through the Western U.S.; to survive, they must keep the train running and a reasonable version of community happening, even as their friends become zombies and must be separated from everyone else. Wyatt is one of the first to welcome aboard a new girl, Ryle, who has an intriguing story about a potential cure awaiting down another track outside the (hopeless but still relatively safe) loop. Trusting someone with such a monumental decision, however, knowing that the moving train is all that keeps them from the endless seas of zombies, is a risk the riders may not be willing to take. Things move quickly in a world where you know you are going to be a zombie very soon, and readers will be swept along at a rapid pace through terrifying close calls, gallows humor, [End Page 321] and apocalypse-defying moments of true community. Zombie books for a younger crowd are scarce, particularly ones with stakes as high as these and with an overall serious tone, and this series opener is sure to attract attention.
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April Spisak (2024) studied this question.