My Rotten Life.............

Lubar, David. My Rotten Life: Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie

     I really liked this fun book about the young zombie, Nathan Abercrombie. While I was initially against using a book about the “walking dead” in my classroom, I felt that Lubar’s plot inspires young people to not be zombies in real life. While Nathan has almost superhuman abilities by being able to outrun other students and play video games all night long, he truly desires to return to be a living human being. More so, Lubar takes the “misfit” of the school and gives him these extraordinary powers to empower himself and excel. I really enjoyed Nathan as a role model for my students because he truly wants to live again, but he uses his new powers to learn self-esteem and that he is human being of value—even though he is different. However, I didn’t like the character Abigail for trying to get Nathan to visit her uncle Hurt-Be-Gone as a solution to make him feel better about being a social misfit. I don’t think that would be a good example at all for students in the classroom…it would encourage emotional escapism. But for the most part, Lubar gives Charlie these powers to help him realize that it is much better to be human and to feel, than it is to not feel and have these supernatural powers to impress the popular kids. Lubar really does show the importance of learning self-esteem and being happy with oneself even though young people, such as Nathan, do not fit into school clicks or are not accepted.