Zombierella, from Joseph Coelho and Freya Hartas, is guaranteed to make you shiver and giggle all at once.
This is a deliciously funny, wonderfully subversive take on Cinderella. Told with Joseph’s masterful command of words, this verse novel is brilliant fun.
Poor Cinderella. Such a terrible predicament. Stuck with her horrendous step sisters, and to top it all off her beloved pet horse, Lumpkin… dies.
Meanwhile, a mysterious prince has moved in to the mansion atop of Grimmsville’s only hill. Mysteriously the prince’s servants arrived in coffin shaped carriages and promptly set about blackening the windows, removing the garlic and… unsharpening the pencils. Hmmm… slightly odd?!
In another deliciously wicked break from the original, poor Cinderella left all alone after her step sisters leave for the ball… has an unfortunate, and tragic, accident on the stairs. Well, I think the title gives away the next plot twist but as for anything more… no spoilers here. Let’s just say the twist on the glass slipper scene… had me laughing out loud. Pure brilliance!
This is a wonderfully produced book, the lovely thick pages are adorned with Freya Hartas’ gloriously gruesome black and white illustrations.
Zombierella is Cinderella as you’ve never seen her before. With plenty of twists and turns that you won’t second guess, and a rather lovely ending too. The format of verse novel is fabulous. Joseph is a master at poetry – hooking his readers in and bringing them along on a fast-paced, humour filled ride.
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