Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd

One of the good things about having friends with little kids is that you can find some rather peculiar books scattered about their house. When I say little I'm actually mean really, really little (she's only just started walking, and upon discovering how to walk, she has also discovered how to explore, which can be a bit of headache at times, but then again I've been walking for quite a long time now and I still seem to have this desire to explore), which means the books are really, really simple – no [book:Discourse on the Origins of Inequality] for this little baby just yet (though I have been trying to talk them in to reading it to her as a bedtime story – it is rather short: that's probably why I never had any kids).

Anyway, this book is a really quick read. In fact I managed to read it in the amount of time it took my friend to walk from the coffee table to the door to the hallway, and then start tapping his feet indicating that it was probably time for us to go, which is a good thing because I can now mark off another book that I have read for the year (though I'm not sure if books that take an entire two minutes to read actually count).

So, you are probably wandering what a kid's book named the Very Hungry Zombie is about, and whether it actually is a kid's book. Well, I'm sort of wandering about that myself. Mind you, I can say what it isn't about – it isn't about this:

(I just had to find an excuse to put this picture into a review – not that I've ever actually watched the series – I really don't have time anymore).

What it is about is how a zombie goes and eats people, and once it has finished eating people, it then munches on a heap of brains, and then goes to bed. I probably shouldn't tell you what happens next because that will spoil all the fun.

Oh, I probably should mention that it is a counting book because the zombie first of all eats two clowns, and then three football players, then four pro-wrestlers, and finally five rock stars, at which point he gets sick of eating people and decides to munch on some brains.

It makes me wonder though – should we really be using books like this to teach kids how to read? It's only going to make them want to watch zombie movies when they grow up, and it is only end up encouraging all those film makers that seem to love churning out cliched zombie movies.