Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Vanished!
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.jamesponti.com
CITY: Maitland
STATE: FL
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Italy; immigrated to the United States in childhood; married; wife’s name Denise; children: Alex (died, 2015), Grayson.
EDUCATION:Holds degree from University of Southern California Film School.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, screenwriter, and producer of television shows for Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, Spike TV, History Channel, and Golf Channel.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Born in Italy, James Ponti grew up in Florida and studied screenwriting at the University of Southern California. He has written and produced numerous television shows for Nickelodeon, PBS, Spike TV, Disney, and The History Channel. He has also adapted television and feature films as books, and is the author of nonfiction books, romances, and several mystery novels for middle-grade readers.
Dead City
Ponti’s Dead City introduces middle school student Molly, who has just enrolled in a science magnet school in New York City. The city is home to more than a thousand zombies, and Molly has prepared herself to confront them. She has spent a lot of time at the coroner’s office where her recently deceased mother had worked, and she has also become an expert in fencing as well as judo. As soon as she starts at her new school, she and three other classmates join Omega, a mysterious organization that fights the city’s zombies. The students are taught nonviolent methods of interacting with the zombies, who have plagued the city since a deadly subway explosion in 1896, and who obtain their strength from the city’s schist bedrock.
As the story progresses, Molly and her friends discover surprising connections between this explosion, the Dewey Decimal System and the Periodical Table of Elements, and the novel Little Women. “It works,” said a writer for Kirkus Reviews, who admired the book’s lighthearted and “adventure-driven” narrative.
Blue Moon and Dark Days
In Blue Moon, Molly and her Omega comrades solve a riddle that gains them entry to the Baker’s Dozen, an elite group within the organization. Their mission is to find patterns by which they can track zombies’ activity, which they have to do using only paper and a manual typewriter. The group manages to follow the zombies through Manhattan’s subway stations, with action at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and at the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews admired the book’s humor, gory action, and focus on clues and deduction, adding that Ponti’s inclusion of a “fascinating twist” near the end adds “political intrigue” to the story.
The series concludes with Dark Days, in which Molly and the Omegas discover the connection between the zombies and an enormous vault full of gold deep below the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The vault contains the world’s biggest gold reserve, and it looks as if the zombies have access to it through their leader, Marek Blackwell, who had been involved in its construction in 1920. The Omegas must find out whether Blackwell has nefarious plans for the money–and if so, how to stop him.
Framed!
Florian, a protagonist of Ponti’s “T.O.A.S.T.” series, is a brainy seventh grader who has developed a crime-solving method that has attracted the interest of the F.B.I., which asks him to join the organization. Framed! recounts Florian’s success in using his Theory of All Small Things (T.O.A.S.T.) to help the F.B.I. find three masterpieces stolen from the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. The federal agents are so impressed that they train Florian at Quantico and give him a dangerous undercover assignment involving a European crime ring planning the theft of a major painting by Monet. Florian, using an alias, works on the case with his best friend, Margaret, who is both brilliant and athletic.
A writer for Kirkus Reviews identified a few “lapses in logic” in the book, and expressed disappointment in its unexciting conclusion. The book’s biggest appeal, said the reviewer, is its two smart, resourceful central characters–a white boy and an African-American girl–and their “solid, realistic friendship.” Writing in School Library Journal, Patrick Tierney described Framed! as a “treat” for young mystery fans.
Vanished! and Trapped!
In Vanished!, Florian and Margaret investigate a spate of pranks at a private school in Washington, posing as transfer students and ordered to solve the mystery but keep the culprit’s identity quiet. Among the possible suspects are the school’s headmaster and students Yin Yae, a Chinese musical prodigy, and Lucy Mays, whose father is president of the United States. When Yin disappears in the middle of a performance at the Kennedy Center, the young detectives must figure out whether this is yet another school prank, a kidnapping, or Yin’s bid to defect from his native country and seek political asylum in the United States. A writer for Kirkus Reviews deemed the book a “splendid whodunit: cerebral, exhilarating, low in violence, . . . and occasionally hilarious.”
Marcus, Florian’s and Margaret’s supervisor at the F.B.I., is accused of a serious crime in Trapped!, and the juvenile detectives must use all their wits to save him. A Russian spy involved in one of Marcus’s first cases is now trying to smear Marcus’s name. Before Florian and Margaret can right things and restore Marcus’s reputation, they have to break into the Library of Congress–and find a way out again without being discovered.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Children’s Bookwatch, November, 2016, review of Framed!
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2012, review of Dead City; September 15, 2013, review of Blue Moon; May 15, 2016, review of Framed!; May 15, 2017, review of Vanished!
School Library Journal, November, 2012, Jennifer Prince, review of Dead City, p. 115; January, 2014, Donna Rosenblum, review of Blue Moon, p. 88; June, 2016, Patrick Tierney, Patrick, reveiw of Framed!, p. 97; June 1, 2017, Terry Ann Lawler, review of Vanished!, p. 94.
ONLINE
BookPage, https://bookpage.com/ (May 10, 2018), Deborah Hopkinson, review of Framed!
Book Smugglers, https://www.thebooksmugglers.com/ (May 10, 2018), review of Dead City.
James Ponti Website, https://www.jamesponti.com (May 10, 2018).
Neverending TBR, http://www.theneverendingtbr.com/ (May 10, 2018), review of Vanished!.
Orlando Sentinel Online, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ (May 10, 2018), Hal Boedeker, “Maitland Author James Ponti Creates Kid Genius in New Mystery.”
Word Spelunking, http://wordspelunking.blogspot.com/ (May 10, 2018), interview with Ponti.
Series
Dead City
1. Dead City (2012)
2. Blue Moon (2013)
3. Dark Days (2015)
Dead City Omega Collection (2016)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
T.O.A.S.T. Mystery
1. Framed! (2016)
2. Vanished! (2017)
3. Trapped! (2018)
thumbthumbthumb
Novels
The Escape Clause Junior Novelization (2006)
Race to Witch Mountain Junior Novel (2009)
G-Force Junior Novel (2009)
Disney's a Christmas Carol Junior Novel (2009)
The Sorcerer's Apprentice Junior Novel (2010)
Tron: The Movie Storybook (2010)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumb
Series contributed to
Mystery Files of Shelby Woo
9. History Mystery (1998)
12. The Green Monster (1999)
14. Friends in Need (1999)
thumbthumbthumb
Journey of Allen Strange
7. Election Connection (1999)
thumb
Camp Rock: Second Session
6. Sound Off! (2009)
8. The Right Chord (2009)
thumbthumb
Pirates of the Caribbean
On Stranger Tides Junior Novel (2011)
On Stranger Tides: Movie Storybook (2011)
James Ponti was born in Italy, raised in Florida, and went to college in California. After receiving a degree in screenwriting from the USC Film School, he began a career writing and producing television shows for the likes of Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, Spike TV, History Channel, and Golf Channel. James loves writing, travel, and the Boston Red Sox. He lives with his family in Maitland, Florida.
Maitland author James Ponti creates kid genius in new mystery
James Ponti
Author James Ponti and his family have dedicated this library in front of the family's home to son Alex, who died last year. (Chris Graham /Courtesy photo)
Hal Boedeker Hal BoedekerContact Reporter
Orlando Sentinel
Florian Bates author James Ponti is inspired by his sons
Florian Bates is a 12-year-old Sherlock Holmes who works for the FBI, lives in Washington and uses a tantalizing skill he dubs TOAST (Theory of All Small Things).
Florian's creator is a 50-year-old producer who works for Golf Channel, lives in Maitland and displays real feeling for writing children in "Framed! A TOAST Mystery."
James Ponti sees Florian in human terms and draws inspiration from his sons.
Ponti dedicates "Framed!" to Alex, his severely autistic son who died of a seizure last year at 22. "He was the joy of our lives," he said. Ponti has finished a second Florian Bates book, "Vanished," coming out next year.
"It feels like Alex is part of the books. That's why I keep writing," Ponti said.
In creating Florian, Ponti drew on watching his other son, Grayson, grow up.
"I knew all the strengths he had," he said. "Most kids have all these great qualities, and they think the outside world only sees their mistakes. You'll find a lot of people identifying with that struggle."
Florida Film Festival: Female directors gauge progress
CAPTION
Florida Film Festival: Female directors gauge progress
'A Mediocre Documentary With Tom and Dan': Local men make good
First look: Playful eats at Woody's Lunch Box at Disney's Toy Story Land
Florian is an awkward kid socially but lucks into finding a great friend who helps him blossom as a person. The friend is Margaret, and she asks to learn TOAST — how Florian reads people and places — a talent that brings him to the FBI's attention.
"TOAST is something I developed in airports to pass the time," Ponti says. He calls it a survival skill for Florian.
"The idea is that if you add up a bunch of little details, it reveals the larger truth," Florian says.
Yet in becoming a covert asset for the FBI, Florian is not allowed to show his deductive brilliance to many people. Ponti spotted the name Florian in the credits for a TV show. Once he had the name, he knew he could write the book.
"With a regular name, he'd be a regular kid. When you hear that name, you know this kid is different," he said.
Ponti also wrote the "Dead City" young-adult trilogy about zombie fighters in New York. The trilogy and the Florian books are published by Aladdin, part of Simon & Schuster.
Ponti attributes his talent for capturing kids' voices to his wife, Denise, a teacher at Winter Park High School, and to writing a lot of children's television, such as "Clifford's Puppy Days" and "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo."
"I always think of things as a Nickelodeon series — that's what I aspired to write," said Ponti, who also worked for Disney Channel. Suzanne Collins, a fellow employee at Nickelodeon, encouraged him to write a book. She penned the "Hunger Games" series.
Ponti has free-lanced newspaper articles, written the book "Hollywood East" and survived the exodus of TV production from Orlando. He says he didn't know anything about golf when he started at Golf Channel. Yet he knows TV production, and he has been there 11 years.
The reviews for "Framed!" have been good. The real draw is "the two resourceful leads' solid, realistic friendship," said Kirkus Reviews.
Yet Ponti said he's more thrilled by support from other young-adult writers. "In the book world, we look at it as you get a kid to read, they might read my book, too," he said. "We're not competitors, we're co-conspirators."
His love of books takes many forms. The family has a small lending library, which holds 20 to 30 books, in front of their home. It's dedicated to Alex.
Son Grayson, 21, is an English major and looking to get a master's degree in publishing.
And there's Florian Bates, a vibrant figure on the page. Hollywood hasn't come calling for what seems the perfect Disney project. "I'm not that kind of big writer," Ponti said. "Hopefully one day."
hboedeker@orlandosentinel.com
James Ponti
Who:
The "Framed!" author reads from his book.
When:
6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15
Where:
Barnes & Noble, Colonial Plaza Market Center, 2418 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando
James Ponti
AUTHOR OF FRAMED: A T.O.A.S.T MYSTERY AND THE DEAD CITY TRILOGY
Bio: James Ponti was born in Italy, raised in Florida, and went to college in California. After receiving a degree in screenwriting from the USC Film School, he began a career writing and producing television shows for the likes of Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, Spike TV, History Channel, and Golf Channel. James loves writing, travel, and the Boston Red Sox. He lives with his family in Maitland, Florida.
Website: jamesponti.com
James' Twitter: @JamesPonti
Awards and Honors: Dead City (Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, 2014-2015)
That's me on the left. My brother had just graduated from high school and that same day I made a construction paper bird. I couldn't understand why my mom would want to take a picture of him without me and my bird - I mean, it was a really nice bird. So here I am inventing the photo bomb years before there even was a term for it.
We're in our backyard in Atlantic Beach, Florida. It was a great place to grow up, just two blocks from the ocean and two blocks from Atlantic Beach Elementary, which is where I began my writing career. The very next year I wrote my first story. It was about Mickey Mouse and his friends throwing him a surprise birthday party. Donald, Minnie and Goofy all chipped in to buy him a lamp.
The funny thing is, years later I actually ended up writing for the Disney Channel show Mickey Mouse Club and one of the sketches I wrote was a special about Mickey that aired on his 65th birthday.
Here I am in the front of the boat wearing a coonskin cap. (Don't worry, it was fake fur. No aminals were hurt in the construction of this website.) During college I spent my summers working on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes at Walt Disney World. (There's a lot of Disney in your life when you grow up in Florida.) My job was to tell silly jokes like when we approached the burning cabin and I'd say: "That's where my girlfriend lives. We broke up so now she's my old flame. It really burns me up too because she's really hot."
Not only was the job incredibly fun, but it also helped me develop as a writer. I circled the Rivers of America countless times, so it let me try all different versions of the jokes. I'd write new ones and I'd change the way I told them. It gave me a chance to learn how jokes work and what makes people laugh. Because, believe me, if you can make people laugh while they're paddling a 1,600 pound concrete and fiberglass canoe in the Florida summer, that's something. I also got to keep the coonskin cap - but don't tell anyone, I think I was supposed to turn it in on my last day.
This is my family on a trip to Chicago, where we got to experience snow and wear every layer of clothing we own. My wife and kids make for the ultimate Omega Team. (If you've read Dead City then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, just know that it means they're awesome.)
I met my wife, Denise, on a blind date in college and we've been married for over 25 years. She teaches high school American history and a course called Theory of Knowledge. (Yeah, she's really smart.) She's also the person who reads and edits everything first and keeps me from pulling out what little hair I have left.
My sons are named Alex and Grayson. (The characters in the Dead City books are named after them.) Alex passed away in March of 2015. He was severely autistic and epileptic and we miss him every day and cherish all of our memories with him. Grayson now works in Washington, D.C. as part of City Year. They are my inspirations and my heroes.
If you click the image you can watch an interview I did for Authors Revealed with Becky Anderson, owner of the amazing Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois.
That's me on the left. My brother had just graduated from high school and that same day I made a construction paper bird. I couldn't understand why my mom would want to take a picture of him without me and my bird - I mean, it was a really nice bird. So here I am inventing the photo bomb years before there even was a term for it.
We're in our backyard in Atlantic Beach, Florida. It was a great place to grow up, just two blocks from the ocean and two blocks from Atlantic Beach Elementary, which is where I began my writing career. The very next year I wrote my first story. It was about Mickey Mouse and his friends throwing him a surprise birthday party. Donald, Minnie and Goofy all chipped in to buy him a lamp.
The funny thing is, years later I actually ended up writing for the Disney Channel show Mickey Mouse Club and one of the sketches I wrote was a special about Mickey that aired on his 65th birthday.
Here I am in the front of the boat wearing a coonskin cap. (Don't worry, it was fake fur. No aminals were hurt in the construction of this website.) During college I spent my summers working on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes at Walt Disney World. (There's a lot of Disney in your life when you grow up in Florida.) My job was to tell silly jokes like when we approached the burning cabin and I'd say: "That's where my girlfriend lives. We broke up so now she's my old flame. It really burns me up too because she's really hot."
Not only was the job incredibly fun, but it also helped me develop as a writer. I circled the Rivers of America countless times, so it let me try all different versions of the jokes. I'd write new ones and I'd change the way I told them. It gave me a chance to learn how jokes work and what makes people laugh. Because, believe me, if you can make people laugh while they're paddling a 1,600 pound concrete and fiberglass canoe in the Florida summer, that's something. I also got to keep the coonskin cap - but don't tell anyone, I think I was supposed to turn it in on my last day.
This is my family on a trip to Chicago, where we got to experience snow and wear every layer of clothing we own. My wife and kids make for the ultimate Omega Team. (If you've read Dead City then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, just know that it means they're awesome.)
I met my wife, Denise, on a blind date in college and we've been married for over 25 years. She teaches high school American history and a course called Theory of Knowledge. (Yeah, she's really smart.) She's also the person who reads and edits everything first and keeps me from pulling out what little hair I have left.
My sons are named Alex and Grayson. (The characters in the Dead City books are named after them.) Alex passed away in March of 2015. He was severely autistic and epileptic and we miss him every day and cherish all of our memories with him. Grayson now works in Washington, D.C. as part of City Year. They are my inspirations and my heroes.
If you click the image you can watch an interview I did for Authors Revealed with Becky Anderson, owner of the amazing Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012
Interview: James Ponti (MG Author)
I'm super excited to have James Ponti here today for an awesome interview! James is the author of the fabulous Dead City, the first book in a new middle-grade zombie series. I recently read Dead City and LOVED it! Be sure to check out my review.
Dead City
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.
WS: What three words best describe your book DEAD CITY?
JP- Juicy zombie fun.
WS: Can you give us your best one sentence pitch for DEAD CITY to convince readers that they really must read your book?
JP- (That’s exactly what I was trying to do with the first line of the book which is the title of the prologue.)
“You’re probably wondering why there’s a dead body in the bathroom…”
WS: What made you decide to write a zombie book for kids? Where did the idea or inspiration for DEAD CITY come from?
JP- It came the opposite way as every other thing I’ve written. Normally I start with a character and then try to think of a situation and build from there. But this came in reverse from a discarded idea that was completely different. I’d written some Romantic Comedies for Simon Pulse and was trying to come up with another one. My idea was about a girl at a science magnet school who understood everything about physics, chemistry, etc… but nothing about social things and boys and why kids act they way they do. When I went to write up the pitch I needed to have a name for the school and I came up with the Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology which everyone calls MIST. For some reason, my favorite part of the pitch became the name of the school. There was something about the sound of it that I liked so I threw the rest of it out and asked myself, what kind of things would happen at a school called MIST. About fifteen minutes later I had a secret group called the Omegas and I was off and running.
WS: Can you tell us a little bit about your heroine in DEAD CITY, Molly Bigelow? What makes her stand out from other middle-grade characters?
JP- I LOVE Molly! A lot. I think you really need to love your protagonist but you also need to make sure that you don’t love her so much that you make her too perfect or unrealistic. Molly makes mistakes – a lot of them – but usually for the right reasons. She’s academically gifted and socially awkward and no one is more surprised than she is that she has this incredible skill set to combat the zombies that live underneath Manhattan. Most of all she is fun to write! My favorite part of Suzanne Collins’ blurb for the book is when she says, “Brainy, funny and socially baffled Molly Bigelow makes for an irresistible narrator.” That’s exactly what I was shooting for.
WS: Grab a copy of DEAD CITY and answer the following:
Favorite chapter?
My background is writing television scripts and I think as a result of that, I tend to have favorite moments more than chapters. I think of the moments as the basic unit of story telling. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but my two favorite moments in the book are probably when Natalie shows Molly that her horseshoe necklace might not be what she thinks it is and when Molly’s sister Beth tries to teach her how to put on makeup. (This is funny to me because as one of three brothers and the father of two boys I know absolutely nothing about makeup, which my editor was more than happy to point out in the margins of the first draft.) If I had to pick a favorite chapter, I’d probably go with Chapter 1 That Weird Bigelow Girl - where we find out Molly’s backstory and she rides on the elevator with a colorful cast of characters.
Favorite page?
No question here - The last one. I really did not have the story plotted out very much as I wrote Dead City, but I knew what that last page would be almost word for word while I wrote the rest. I consider the first 276 words little more than preparation for that one. (Please don’t jump ahead and see what it is.)
Favorite character?
This is a little unfair because I try to make the characters well-rounded and flawed. I try to keep them as real as possible, but I think I cheat when it comes to writing Molly’s dad. I think it’s because I’m a dad and he’s the father I want to be. I also feel a big responsibility to writing parents well because I feel like it’s easy to turn them into caricatures.
Flip to a random page, choose a random sentence and give us a little teaser:
“But over the next few days the worries that kept me up at night went from severed fingers and robbing graves to fitting in and making friends.” (Page 35) I like this line because it frames Molly’s two conflicting universes.
WS: Have you ever come face to face with a zombie?! You can tell us, we'll believe you! Any tips on how to be prepared for a zombie encounter?
JP- First of all, it’s important to remember that they hate to be called the Z-word, they much prefer “undead.” And while I’ve never come face-to-face with an official one, I’ve spent more twenty years working in television so I’ve known more than my share of heartless, soulless and mindless people. I’ve found the best way to distract them is with excessive compliments and gluten-free desserts.
WS: You've worked on several tv shows for children, shows that I'm sure many readers have watched...can you tell us about your experience working on those shows? Do you have a favorite show that you've worked on?
JP- I loved writing kid/tween/teen television and have worked on many. I wrote on the last two seasons of Mickey Mouse Club back when Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell and the others were all really young and nice and talented. That was a great show to write because it was fun to work in a room of comedy writers who were basically trying to make each other laugh all day.
My all time favorite TV writing gig was a Nickelodeon show called the Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. It was about a teenage girl detective who lived with her grandfather in a bed and breakfast. There were three of us on the writing staff – Alan Goodman who created and produced the show and Suzanne Collins who I ended working with over and over again. (After TV she started dabbling in Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction that some of your readers may be familiar with.) Shelby was great fun because it was often Suzanne and I just sitting in the room trying to come up with mysteries that were challenging but still fit the Nickelodeon mold – no violence, drugs, etc… Let me just say that there were a lot of jewel thieves who stayed over at that Bed and Breakfast.
After Shelby, Suzanne and I ended up working together on Jojo’s Circus for Disney and Clifford’s Puppy Days for PBS. She was the one who encouraged me to get into writing books. (I’m a bit of a fan of hers, so excuse me if I gush.)
WS: If you could jump inside ANY book for a short visit, what book would it be and what would you do in that world?
JP- The book that did it for me was From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I was not a strong reader growing up and I struggled getting into fiction because I read so much slower than everybody else in my class. But when I read that book I just got lost in it and fell in love. I see so much of that love carried into Dead City including the realistic New York setting, the precociously brilliant but awkward girl protagonist, the character voice, the solving of mysteries, the list goes on. As far as to what I’d do in that world, my lifelong dream ever since reading it has been to spend the night in a museum so that I could poke around behind the velvet ropes and really get a good look at things.
WS: Fill in the blanks:
I'm really awesome at Frisbee Golf. At least the version we developed when I was in college. We’d “tee off” around 11:00 PM and play on a course we designed that criss-crossed the University of Southern California and wouldn’t make it back to our dorm until about 2:00 AM.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I really love the Carly Rae Jepsen song “Call me Maybe.” It is the perfect pop song and I want to hate it but I just turn it up every time it comes on the radio.
My favorite Halloween costume would be the ghost outfit that Charlie Brown wears in “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.”
My favorite zombie movie is – I don’t have one. True confession time here, I’ve never seen a zombie movie, TV show or read a zombie book. I had never been interested before and now that I’m writing my own zombie book series I avoid them so they don’t affect my plotting. However, I’m a huge fan of An American Werewolf in London and the mix of horror and humor in that probably influenced the version I was trying to create in Dead City.
WS: If you were to create/bake a DEAD CITY inspired cupcake, what would it look and taste like and what would you call it?
JP- Probably shaped like a head and something in the red velvet family with an oozy vanilla pudding in the middle. I’m embarrassed that I can’t come up with a clever name. I’d probably go with “Undead Heads.”
Thank you SO much James for taking the time to answer my questions! And readers, trust me, Dead City is a must read for all ages and the perfect Halloween read.
James Ponti
I grew up in Atlantic Beach, Florida and am a graduate of the University of Southern California. I've written numerous books and have worked as a television writer/producer. I'm currently writing the Dead City Middle Grade book series about a secret society of New York City zombie fighters. According to a non-disclosure agreement I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not I've ever actually fought a zombie face to face. Although I am certain that a few of my middle school teachers were undead.
Ponti, James: VANISHED!
Kirkus Reviews. (May 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ponti, James VANISHED! Aladdin (Children's Fiction) $16.99 8, 22 ISBN: 978-1-4814-3633-5
A rash of pranks at an exclusive private school leads two young detectives all the way to the White House.Ponti positively shovels clues, secrets, coded messages, potential suspects, red herrings, distractions, and side mysteries, not to mention dazzling feats of deduction, into this second caper featuring white middle school sleuth Florian "Young Sherlock" Bates, his tough-minded and often equally acute BF Margaret, and their FBI supervisor, Marcus (both of the latter African-American). Posing as transfer students and enjoined to identify the culprit as circumspectly as possible, Florian and Margaret find their work cut out for them as not only does the school's headmaster have something to hide, but Lucy Mays, a white girl and the daughter of the president of the U.S., and also widely renowned Chinese musical prodigy Yin Yae are on the list of potential suspects. The stakes rise sky high when Yin vanishes partway through a performance at the Kennedy Center. Is it another prank? A kidnapping? Or is he defecting, with--a diplomatic disaster in the making--Lucy's help? As in Framed! (2016), fast brain- and footwork saves the day at the last moment, but watching Florian wow everyone, including Lucy's dad, with Holmes-style connecting of dots along the way is just as satisfying. A splendid whodunit: cerebral, exhilarating, low in violence, methodical in construction, and occasionally hilarious. (Mystery. 11-13)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Ponti, James: VANISHED!" Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491934309/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2ed693ae. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491934309
Framed! A T.O.A.S.T. Mystery
Children's Bookwatch. (Nov. 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Full Text:
Framed! A T.O.A.S.T. Mystery
James Ponti
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 4th floor, New York, NY 10020
www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781481436304, $16.99 amazon.com
James Ponti's Framed! A T.O.A.S.T. Mystery tells of twelve-year-old Florian, who has just moved to Washington. His secret technique for coping is T.O.A.S.T. and it's never failed him before; but this time it's about lead him into a mystery that's far more involved than the daily small conundrums of life. Young fans of detective and mystery intrigue will find this a thrilling read in which Florian delves into adult worlds and a crime syndicate's activities. Framed! is an excellent, exciting read from cover to cover.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Framed! A T.O.A.S.T. Mystery." Children's Bookwatch, Nov. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A472474809/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f148f372. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A472474809
Ponti, James: FRAMED!
Kirkus Reviews. (May 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ponti, James FRAMED! Aladdin (Children's Fiction) $16.99 8, 23 ISBN: 978-1-4814-3630-4
A smart kid foils big-time thieves in the nation's capital--and joins the FBI.Using a method he invented called the Theory of All Small Things, white seventh-grader Florian Bates solves mysteries by piecing together seemingly trivial clues in this engaging, humorous, but not always logical caper. When Florian easily helps the FBI recover three masterpieces stolen from the National Gallery of Art, the dazzled feds supply him with an alias and train him at Quantico. Collaborating with his African-American best friend, superbright, athletic Margaret, Florian finds that even with TOAST, sleuthing gets dangerous when the pair, working undercover, come up against a European crime syndicate--and another spectacular art heist in the form of a forgery substituted for an iconic Monet. Exciting adventures ensue, and clues accumulate until the culprit is revealed and the genuine painting located. Missteps intrude, though: a few lapses in logic may leave readers puzzled; some clues seem contrived; and a subplot involving Florian's discovery of the startling identity of adopted Margaret's biological father falls flat. The solution is also a letdown: the thief is a minor figure, and the means by which the painting was stolen and the forgery set in its place aren't explained. The real draws here are the two resourceful leads' solid, realistic friendship, bolstered by snappy dialogue, brisk pacing, and well-crafted ancillary characters--not to mention behind-the-scenes glimpses of the FBI.More escapades are promised in this improbable but satisfying series starter. (Mystery. 9-12)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Ponti, James: FRAMED!" Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A452197829/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c646fa76. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A452197829
Ponti, James: BLUE MOON
Kirkus Reviews. (Sept. 15, 2013):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ponti, James BLUE MOON Aladdin (Children's Fiction) $16.99 10, 1 ISBN: 978-1-4424-4131-6
Molly and her intrepid team of Omegas continue their fight against the undead of New York City. The four friends from Dead City (2012) solve a riddle that leads them to the attic of the Flatiron Building, where they join the elite Baker's Dozen. In order to avoid detection, they can only use paper and a manual typewriter. Smart preteens that they are, they search for patterns and are able to track the zombies through Manhattan subway stations. The zombie in charge of the Union Square station has used aliases such as Grant, Burnside and McClellan, they learn. More sleuthing takes place during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and culminates in Times Square on New Year's Eve. Milton Blackwell, one of the original undead--the one responsible for the 1896 subway explosion--gets a voice in occasional chapters as he tells his story. Ponti's often humorous narrative focuses on deduction and detective work, but there is enough gore, smell and martial arts fighting to suit action-oriented fans. Museums, the Roosevelt Island tramway and Grand Central Station all play important roles. What stands out is the fascinating twist that the author introduces as zombie fighting morphs into political intrigue. The undead are determined to gain control--but not through fists and kicks. New Yorkers beware! Adventure, sleuthing and a NYC travelogue in one quick read. (Horror/fantasy. 8-12)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Ponti, James: BLUE MOON." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2013. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A342657687/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=24cf656a. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A342657687
Ponti, James: DEAD CITY
Kirkus Reviews. (Sept. 1, 2012):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ponti, James DEAD CITY Aladdin (Children's Fiction) $16.99 10, 2 ISBN: 978-1-4424-4129-3
Middle schooler Molly excels at judo and fencing--both necessary skills when combatting New York City's 1,000-plus zombies. The summer before starting at a science magnet school on Roosevelt Island in the East River, Molly spends Friday afternoons at the coroner's office on the east side of Manhattan. Her mother worked there before her death, and Molly feels comfortable with the dead bodies. Once in school, she joins a group of friends and is initiated into Omega, an organization that both protects and fights the zombies of New York. Her group consists of four classmates: one other girl and two boys. All follow the rules of CLAP: keep Calm, Listen, Avoid physical confrontation and Punish. The zombies arose from an 1896 subway explosion that killed 13 worker; they prefer to be called undead and derive their strength from schist--Manhattan bedrock. 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. (Horror/fantasy. 8-12)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Ponti, James: DEAD CITY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2012. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A301262334/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=505fe172. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A301262334
Ponti, James: Framed!
Patrick Tierney
School Library Journal. 62.6 (June 2016): p97.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
PONTI, James. Framed! 304p. (A T.O.A.S.T. Mystery: Bk. 1). S. & S./Aladdin. Aug. 2016. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781481436304. POP
Gr 4-7--Mystery buffs and fans of Anthony Horowitz's "Alex Rider" series are in for a treat. Protagonist Florian uses a special technique he calls T.O.A.S.T. (Theory of All Small Things) to solve mysteries. The technique enables Florian to draw conclusions based on noticing tiny details. Florian has just moved with his family to Washington, DC. He has never had many friends before. When he meets Margaret, the girl who lives next door, she is intrigued and fascinated by T.O.A.S.T. and begs Florian to teach it to her. When they go to the National Gallery of Art so Florian can teach her his method, they discover details that may be linked to the theft of three paintings. Florian's use of T.O.A.S.T. to find the missing art impresses the FBI so much that he is asked to become a covert consultant. When a dangerous crime syndicate kidnaps Florian, he will have to use every trick he knows to escape and save the day. Florian is funny and smart and grows throughout the novel. VERDICT With elements of Alex Rider, James Bond, and Sherlock Holmes stories, this is likely to be popular with mystery and action/adventure fans.--Patrick Tierney, Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School, Providence, RI
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Tierney, Patrick. "Ponti, James: Framed!" School Library Journal, June 2016, p. 97. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A453920182/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=aaba2735. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A453920182
Ponti, James. Vanished!
Terry Ann Lawler
School Library Journal. 63.6 (June 1, 2017): p94+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
PONTI, James. Vanished! 384p. (Framed!: Bk. 2). S. & S./Aladdin. Aug. 2017. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781481436335.
Gr 5-7-A kid FBI agent takes on a new assignment in the second installment of this series starring Florian Bates. The president's daughter might be involved in some pranks, and Florian and his best friend Margaret go undercover as exchange students at a posh private school to find out what is going on. Florian befriends a quiet violin prodigy from China, who vanishes mysteriously. Is Yin's disappearance related to the POTUS's daughter? And what about the school bully and heiress, Victoria? Ponti drops plenty of clues and red herrings so that readers can sleuth along with the protagonist. Florian has enough flaws to be likable, though several minor characters are broad stereotypes. Most readers will be surprised by the twist ending. VERDICT A fast-paced story for those who can't get enough mystery. An additional purchase for large collections.--Terry Ann Lawler, Burton Ban Library, Phoenix
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lawler, Terry Ann. "Ponti, James. Vanished!" School Library Journal, 1 June 2017, p. 94+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A493916081/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e065621b. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A493916081
Ponti, James. Dead City
Jennifer Prince
School Library Journal. 58.11 (Nov. 2012): p115+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
PONTI, James. Dead City. 278p. CIP. S & S/Aladdin. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-14424-5150-6; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-14424-4128-6. LC 2011048445.
Gr 5-8--Brainy and awkward middle-schooler Molly is recruited by friends Alex, Grayson, and Natalie to train to become a member of Omega, a secret agency sworn to police and protect the undead in Manhattan. She gets her first assignment when bloodless dead bodies are found lined up in a park to form the Greek letter Omega. It is up to Molly and her crew to figure out who has it in for the Omegas before it is too late. Keeping the city safe from zombies takes her and her friends all over New York. Ponti incorporates several landmarks into the story: Roosevelt Island, Blackwell House, subway ghost stations, and the New York Marble Cemetery. The most significant Manhattan feature the author uses is schist, the type of rock from which the island was formed. In his Manhattan, the schist emits a unique energy. Because the zombies need it to survive, they stay underground, in their thriving Dead City, or as close to ground level as possible. Readers who enjoy a plot-driven story will like this one. There is no budding romance and very little character development. Dead City is all about the thrill of the (relatively bloodless and gore-free) hunt.--Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Library, NC
Prince, Jennifer
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Prince, Jennifer. "Ponti, James. Dead City." School Library Journal, Nov. 2012, p. 115+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A308003873/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=12d47fde. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A308003873
Ponti, James. Blue Moon
Donna Rosenblum
School Library Journal. 60.1 (Jan. 2014): p88.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
PONTI, James. Blue Moon. Bk. 2. 336p. (Dead City Series). S & S/Aladdin. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781442441316; ebk. $10.99. ISBN 9781442441330.
Gr 6 Up--Picking up shortly after Dead City (S & S, 2012) ends, Molly Bigelow and her Omega Team face new challenges while combating the undead in New York City. Now part of the elite Baker's Dozen, the group is charged with uncovering the present identities and tracking the whereabouts of the original 13 zombies. They must discover which zombie will replace Marek as leader, why certain creatures are turning up permanently dead, and what clues are bidden in subway stations and various landmarks. Stakes are high as the genius teen detectives race against time to piece together leads. Ponti weaves a complex plot full of suspense and intrigue. Through the super sleuthing of the talented agents, the history of Manhattan's undead is revealed. Especially intriguing are the flashbacks from the man responsible for an 1896 mining explosion, Milton Blackwell. Likable characters and a witty, narrative, coupled with the themes of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, make this page-turning adventure a must-have. A satisfying and engaging read that will leave fans wanting more.--Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY
Rosenblum, Donna
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Rosenblum, Donna. "Ponti, James. Blue Moon." School Library Journal, Jan. 2014, p. 88. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A355150954/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=72182cb3. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A355150954
REVIEW: VANISHED! by James Ponti
Posted on August 15, 2017 by Jaymie
Summary
Florian and Margaret are working with FBI agent and friend, Marcus Rivers once again on a case. This time they’re going undercover to an exclusive prep school where the First Daughter goes to school. There have been a series of pranks at the school – super glue in locker locks and someone crashed the school’s private social network. Someone using the code name Loki has pulled these pranks. And they seem to be happening around or near the First Daughter.
It’s up to Florian and Margaret to make connections at the school and start figuring out who is responsible for the pranks. But they have several suspects. They have to keep up with their school work while they work the case. Florian has attracted the attention of a bully. And the school administrators are resistant and uncooperative regarding the pranks and Florian’s efforts to find the culprit. Florian has to trust that his Theory of All Small Things will be enough to solve their latest case.
Review
FRAMED, book one in the T.O.A.S.T mystery series, is one of my favorite books from 2016. I’m happy to say that book two lives up to the excellence of its predecessor.
The premise of these books is so clever. Middle school detectives helping the FBI. The TOAST method they use to solve crimes is smart and fun. But the characters are the best part. The adults who know Florian and Margaret well respect their skills and trust their work. Those who don’t know them are put in their place in delightful – and usually gracious – ways.
I laughed out loud several times while reading, and even had to read one especially excellent passage to my family because it was unexpected and completely perfect. I was delighted by the entire book. The mystery kept me guessing all the way to the end. Great history and museum and landmark and art and music pieces in the story round out the mystery plot.
Fantastic! I’m looking forward to reading more in the TOAST series! Thanks to James Ponti for sending me an advanced reader copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I have already passed it on to a former student who is a big fan of the first book in the series. This book will release next week, August 22, 2017. I hope you’ll check it out!
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Share this:
BOOK REVIEW: DEAD CITY BY JAMES PONTI
Posted on September 5, 2013
Dead CityTitle: Dead City
Author: James Ponti
Genre: Horror, Middle Grade/Young Adult, Zombies
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication Date: October 2012
Hardcover: 288 Pages
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.
Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Dead City series
How did I get this book: Bought
Format (e- or p-): Print
Why did I read this book: Somehow, this book completely slipped under my radar last year – I mean, this is a book featuring an awesome middle grade-aged female protagonist, who fights zombies in New York City. AND it’s blurbed by Suzanne Collins (who I don’t think I’ve ever seen blurb ANYTHING). Had I known about this book, I would have been all over it like an insatiable zombie horde moving in on helpless human prey. So, when I saw this great looking book at my local bookstore last week, I scooped it up and devoured it immediately (zombies = ideal beach reading).
Review:
Seventh grader Molly Bigelow has never really fit in with the popular crowd. As a little kid, Molly’s mother insisted that she take Jeet Kune Do instead of ballet; and at the age of 7, Molly started to accompany her forensic pathologist mother to the morgue to learn about and respect death. After Molly’s mother passes away of cancer, Molly finds solace in the morgue, helping out her mother’s old coworkers and other student interns. Needless to say, Molly’s reputation as “that weird Bigelow girl from the third floor” (not to be confused with her beautiful and popular older sister, Beth) has some merit. After all, how many other seventh graders like hanging out at the morgue all summer?
Molly’s life is about to get a whole lot stranger, however, when she is befriended by three students at her highly competitive science magnet school, MIST (that is, the Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology). Natalie, an “Upper” high schooler at MIST, has been hanging out with Molly all summer as an intern at the city morgue – but even so, Molly is surprised when Natalie (intelligent, beautiful, over-achieving high schooler Natalie) comes over to hang out with Molly at lunch on the first day of school. Molly’s even more surprised that Natalie brings popular football player Alex (also a high schooler, also super brainy), and a quiet seventh grade computer prodigy named Grayson over to hang out with them. Soon, Molly discovers that Natalie, Alex, and Grayson are no ordinary MIST students – they are actually “Omegas,” members of a secret society of MIST students recruited each incoming class. And they police and protect the undead citizens of New York City. That is, zombies.
It turns out that there is much more than just rats in the extensive network of tunnels and abandoned sewers beneath the island of Manhattan – there are three different kinds of undead human, too. Level 1s try to go about their (undead) lives much in the way that humans do; Level 2s look like humans, but are sadistic, twisted, soulless monsters that need to be policed from doing harm to the humans they loathe; Level 3s are degraded 1s and 2s that look like the zombies from a George A. Romero movie, and need to be put down with brutal efficiency.
Molly finds herself the newest, youngest recruit to MIST’s current crop of zombie-killing Omegas, with some serious expectations to live up to (oh yeah, her mother? One of the most legendary zombie-killers in Omega history). When Molly and her new friends stumble across one serious level 2 with a vendetta against the Omegas – and Molly in particular – it is up to the young team to stop the bad guys before the Omegas and all their secrets are discovered.
The first book in a planned series, Dead City is simultaneously snarky, hilarious, and possessing just the right amount of action and horror elements to make this a perfect book for middle grade and young adult audiences. In other words: I loved it.
The thing that makes Dead City really sing is the voice and characterization of its protagonist, Molly. This is a book about a lonely young girl, who misses her mother deeply, but who learns that she has both friends and family that will stand by her even in the hardest, darkest of times. Molly is genuine and honest, both vulnerable (in her loneliness and her self-conscious awkwardness), but also incredibly strong and self-assured (especially when it comes to her fighting, observational, and reasoning skills). Her voice reflects this balance of composed snark and timidity, which makes her all the more memorable and nuanced as a character. This depth extends not just to Molly, but also to the secondary characters in the book – in particular, Molly’s fellow Omegas and her sister, Beth. I love the relationship of trust and teamwork between the MIST Omegas – beyond Molly, my favorite character has to be leader Natalie, who fights for her teammates when no one else will, and whose blend of competence and stress under pressure rings as wholly true. Grayson and Alex are perhaps less detailed as characters, but equally as entertaining and wonderful as members that bring different strengths to the Omega team (Alex with his athletic prowess, Grayson with his oracle-like technological skills). AND I loved that there wasn’t a romance in this book at all – this is a book that focuses on camaraderie and friendships, and I appreciate that very much.
Also, I have to say something about the relationship between sisters Molly and Beth, even though this is a relatively minor part of the story – it’s just rare to see, especially in YA and MG fiction, and I feel like it deserves a little attention. I love the relationship between the two very different sisters. Even though there’s the usual big sister bickering (and believe me, as the eldest sister I am familiar with the bickering), I love that Beth sticks up for Molly (and vice versa) when it counts. At the beginning of the book, for example, when we are first introduced to the sisters, we get a taste of their relationship when a nosy neighbor tries to butt into Molly’s summer hanging out at the morgue:
I only made it a few steps before Mrs. Papadakis decided she just had to butt in. She put a caring hand on my shoulder, like we had some sort of close relationship…which we don’t.
“Darling, it is not appropriate for a girl your age to visit the morgue. I know your mother -”
The mention of my mother was as far as she got.
Beth literally stepped between us and said, “Mrs. Papadakis, my mother thought you were a joke. I’m sure she wouldn’t want either one of us to take advice from you. So save yourself the trouble.”
Mrs. Papadakis’s eyes opened wide. “Well, aren’t you so very rude?”
“Really?” Beth said, not backing down. “Because I thought it wasn’t nearly as rude as a woman your age trying to bully my little sister into feeling bad about herself.”
Did I forget to mention that despite our many differences, my sister totally rocks?
YES. THIS. There are other heartfelt moments, too, like when Beth helps Molly apply makeup and the two girls confess their insecurities – with a deep thread of love and understanding between them all the while. That is all kinds of awesome, and I’m so happy to see it in this book.
What about the actual, ya know, zombies, you say? Or the worldbuilding and plotting and other technical aspects of the book? On the zombie front, I appreciated the backstory of the undead and their particular relationship to Manhattan (it turns out the undead are revived and powered by Manhattan Schist – bedrock that only exists on the island of Manhattan and was exposed when the city’s first subways were created). The levels of undead are also intriguing if not completely developed – I like the idea of there being different grades of zombies, and how some of the undead are simply trying to live their lives (er… you know what I mean).
That said, there were most definitely a few things that didn’t work: namely the basis of the entire MIST/Omega setup. I’m not convinced of the reasoning behind using teenagers to fight zombies – especially as this is a storied institution that has trained and expert fighters that pass through its doors each year, who are better trained, older and better equipped (financially, independently, and almost certainly emotionally) to deal with the zombie threat. There’s also a tendency to gloss over the meaty stuff – the presentation of Grayson’s to explain the history of the Omegas, the reasoning behind WHY kids would be used to fight zombies, for example, aren’t actually shown in the book. That’s frustrating.
Still, the book is so damn enjoyable that I didn’t mind these issues – much. Plus, Dead City ends on a heckuva cliffhanger. I, for one, cannot wait to see what Blue Moon holds. (The good news about my tardiness in reading this book? I only have to wait a month!)
Definitely recommended, especially for younger readers looking for a fun, action-packed read with a strong core of friends at its heart.
Notable Quotes/Parts: From the prologue:
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.
You can read the full excerpt online HERE.
Rating: 7 – Very Good, with plenty of further awesome potential
Reading Next: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
Web Exclusive – August 23, 2016
FRAMED!
Introducing a brilliant new sleuth
BookPage review by Deborah Hopkinson
Twelve-year-old Florian Bates has recently moved to Washington, D.C., where both his parents work in art museums. His new school is Alice Deal Middle School, where he is in seventh grade along with his new best friend, a dynamic black soccer player named Margaret. He’s learning a new language (Romanian), of which he has mastered just one phrase, which translates to “My hovercraft is full of monkeys.”
Oh, and one more thing: Florian has a new job. He’s a covert asset for the FBI.
Florian was recruited into the agency thanks to his remarkable observational abilities, which rival the great detective Sherlock Holmes. Florian’s skills are all based on the fundamental philosophy he developed called T.O.A.S.T, which stands for the “Theory of All Small Things.” He tells Margaret, “That’s how I read people and places. The idea is that if you add up a bunch of little details, it reveals the larger truth.”
Of course, what use is a detective without a mystery? And luckily for Florian (and his fans, of which there are bound to be many), there is no shortage of cases to solve. It helps to have a father in museum security and a mother who specializes in art history and forgery. And when several valuable impressionist paintings disappear from the National Gallery of Art, Florian and Margaret put their observational skills to work to help find the thief.
This intriguing, lighthearted mystery features an appealing middle school friendship with a bit of art history and FBI lore thrown in for good measure. Framed! would make a great selection for pleasure reading, while also offering a number of STEM connections for classroom use. Let’s hope the T.O.A.S.T. mysteries keep coming!
Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is Steamboat School.