Yes, I know I’m late getting this out. And yes, I know that it doesn’t meet at least one of my usual major criteria: that the pick be a book  my daughter and I agree on. But every once in a while it’s important to broaden one’s horizons. And so, on the recommendation of my good friend Carolyn Juris, who interviewed author Paolo Bacigalupi for a Q&A in Publisher’s Weekly recently, I had a look at Zombie Baseball Beatdown.

Not one word in the title would have made me pick this book up on my own. I’m not interested in zombies, or baseball, or beatdowns. But I do love a good story, cleverly wrought and effortlessly told, especially if it has snappy dialog. And I do love a middle grade tale that is brave enough, and smart enough, to take on the industrial meat-making industry. Pink slime not just bad for your health, but a zombie-creating threat to your life and the world as we know it? Pure genius.