The Last Kids on Earth (Last Kids on Earth Series #1) by Max Brallier
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Web ID: 15843479Very fun MG apocalyptic fantasy!
This is such a fun book!! Middle schoolers banding together during a monster outbreak to help each other, while still having fun and, for our MC, saving a damsel in distress (June) who it ends up is doing pretty darn good on her own, may sound jumbled, but it works so well! This was a very well written book with excellently drawn illustrations, and because of this, it was a very quick read. I read it practically in one sitting because you could fly right through it. The plotline was unique, the characters were well written, the setting was described perfectly, and the pacing was spot on. My pre-teen granddaughter read the book as well and gave it 2 thumbs up, which is saying something! All in all, I thought this book was a lot of fun, a very enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading more books from this series in the future. 5/5 stars. *** I would like to thank Netgalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Max Brallier for the opportunity to read and review The Last Kids on Earth.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Exciting and thrilling
I really enjoyed this book. Quint was my favorite character, he was amart and encouraging to his team. He was able to build things and survive the Zombies. I also like Jack he was a good sidekick to get through their problems.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Fun Adventure at the End of the World
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier and illustrated by Douglas Holgate is a first person-POV Middle Grade post-apocalyptic highly illustrated novel. Jack hasn't had a whole lot of luck in life so the apocalypse might as well happen. He goes around taking pictures of monsters and fighting zombies as he tries to survive with his best friend Quint. When the two pick up their old bully, they also try to find Jack's crush, June. The illustrations serve to enhance the text and do include dialogue bubbles that are not in the text. As such, I would say that this is somewhere between a graphic novel and a prose novel and will serve as a good way to bridge the gap between the two for reluctant readers, especially those who enjoyed the Netflix adaptation. I would say that while there are monsters and zombies, this is less scary and more fun adventure-esque. The voice is less sarcastic and is instead one full of false bravado and that kind of confidence only kids who are in middle school have. It feels very realistic to the characters while also giving Jack a distinct personality where he's a bit too into himself but not in a way that most people will find unlikable. There is also some more gross humor but it's sprinkled throughout instead of a focal point. Each character does fall into a sort of archetype, with Jack as the leader and day dreamer, Quint as a brainiac and inventor, Dirk is the bully-turned-ally, and June is a the tough girl who takes no nonsense and will probably remain as Jack’s love interest. For older readers, that might feel predictable, but for the target age group, they probably still haven't figured out how prevalent this is. For educators or guardians, this could serve as a fun way to help teach about group dynamics in fiction and what kinds of characters show up the most frequently. I would recommend this to young reluctant readers struggling to move to prose and parents and guardians looking for a lighter adventurer to start teaching about norms in fiction
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Action, humor, and so much more
Get ready for action and humor and heart and suspense and danger and silliness and so much to make this simply a fun read all the way through. Jack is a thirteen-year-old orphan, who was kind of settling into his latest foster home, but before things got to normal with his first best friend, the Monster Apocalypse ruined everything. Jack is the last survivor in town...or he hopes he isn't, but for the last 42 days, he hasn't seen anything to convince him otherwise. When a trip to a CVS and the meeting of the first monster he can't handle, finally, leads to him fixing his walkie-talkie, he can't believe that his best friend is still alive! Now, Jack has to find a way to cross town, surviving masses of zombies and all sorts of deadly monsters. But this won't be his only adventure because while it'd be super cool to have his friend at his side again, Jack also has to fulfill one of his biggest missions as a self-declared apocalypse fighter—save the damsel in distress. If the damsel is still alive, and if he can find her, that is. Then, there's the entire question as to whether or not he'll survive the next day because that's a constant problem in his new reality. In some ways (and very loosely), this reminds me of Wimpy Kid, just with monsters and zombies and action hero excitement on constant overdrive. So, not really Wimpy Kid in the slightest. Still Jack packs tons of personality as readers join him in his head and tackling one tense situation after the next. He's an action hero to root for and with to join if the Monster Apocalypse did happen to hit. While he's battling monsters with grapefruit juice, broken bats, and more, he's not without heart. Jack doesn't want to kill zombies since they were once regular people. The touch of humanity and his self-declared goals make him easy to like. Plus, his quirky ideas are ridiculous and, yet, oh-so fun to follow. The illustrations/graphics are very well done and bring the world to life. The monsters pack tons of imagination, and the battles sit with tension pure. Even the humor hits with more smiles as Jack takes on the world...or deals with the odder aspects of being alone in life and living in a tree house. These visuals work hand-in-hand with the text to form an addicting world and characters to enjoy. This series has been out for around a decade and still is worth a peek. Not only monster fans will enjoy the chaos, but anyone who love quirky adventures is sure to get lost in the pages. Even reluctant readers won't mind opening this one up. I'm looking forward to seeing what lies in store for Jack and his friends next because it's sure to be a huge, exciting surprise. I received a digital copy and am so glad I had the chance to dive into this fun and exciting read.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Enjoyable Reading
In the book the "Last Kids on Earth" there are lots of heartwarming and suspenseful from zombie attacks, to a big blue monster dog thingamajig. But that is what made this book really interesting I couldn't wait to flip to the next page to see what would happen. There was a surprise around every corner literally, and figuratively. It starts off with this boy name Jack Sullivan it was a regular day of school and then all of the sudden when they were on the bus this black wormhole opened up form the sky and zombies and other undead beasts started to come falling from the wormhole. But right before this Jacks friend was getting bullied because of his sandwich the bully was Dirk Savage and he was a real piece of work.. Then it all happened, all chaos broke loose. Havoc reeked down on the school and the buses. Next thing you know Jacks bus that they were in got picked up by a Tumbler. A tumbler named by Jack, was this big zombified rock beast that would throw anything in its way. If the passengers in the bus had not jumped out of the bus just a few seconds later they would have been flat blueberry pancakes splattered all over the school's sign. Then they saw June Del Toro's jacket outside the school after traveling they traveled for days and days. They found her she had made a hideout in the school they were running form a big zombie ball just like in Indiana Jones. They stayed there for the night but BLAARRGGHH followed him by his scent they had to drive away and barely escaped they went to Jake's treehouse he had been living in sadly none of their family had come back for them. They had found a big blue monster dog and name him Rover they went on adventures and everything almost got eaten by a gigantic ground worm in the mall but they lived and now there are multiple sequels to each book. Great series read just about all the books this was my favorite by far just developing the new story line and plot was amazing and very enjoyable to read 5 start review, 10/10.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com