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Showing posts with label derek kent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label derek kent. Show all posts

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Zillions of Zombies (Scary School #4) by Derek the Ghost {review, guest post, giveaway}


I'm thrilled to feature another spooktacular book, perfect for Halloween time, today! Plus, Derek the Ghost stops by with a fun guest post and awesome giveaway...


Zillions of Zombies
(Scary School #4)
by Derek the Ghost
Sept. 1, 2015
After defeating the fearsome Ice Dragon, the students of Scary School were in full celebration mode with an awesome parade leading up to the Dance of Destiny. But when a bearodactyl snatches Charles Nukid and flies him to Monster Kingdom, his friends have to figure out a way to rescue him before he's served as lunch to one of the kingdom's horrifying creatures. Little do his friends know that he's actually been taken there to be crowned the next monster king after defeating King Zog in battle. But no sooner is he crowned than he is challenged by Turlock the Troll. While trying to avoid getting crushed by Turlock's crew, one of them breaks the Zombie Control Lever, which was keeping all the zombies of the world good and not ravenous for brains. Charles's friends arrive in the nick of time after barely surviving a zombie attack at Scary School. Reunited, they now have to find the one unicorn in existence whose magic is powerful enough to turn all the zombies back to good before every monster and human alike are turned into the mindless brain-eating dead. 
amazon / barnes & noble



Other books in the Scary School series
(click cover to learn more)

Praise for Scary School

"I died laughing!"- Dan Gutma

"A laugh-out-loud offering that should find a broad and appreciative audience among boys and girls alike." - Kara Dean, Booklist

"The book was downright funny to the point of me wetting myself!" - Annemarie Ager, Best Books

"Scary School achieves a new level of awesome." - Ricochet Reviews

"What a great comic storytelling talent Derek the Ghost is. I wish he’d been around when I was a kid. School would have been a lot more fun! - Charles Busch, author and star of Psycho Beach Party

"Spooky, ooky, and kooky! Scary School reminds me of my middle school!" -Chris Grabenstein, award-winning author of The Haunted Mystery series

"Everything is so funny...a perfect book for getting ready for school." -KidsReads

Fresh from their victory over the Ice Dragon, the students at Scary School are ready to celebrate at the Dance of Destiny. But before the festivities even begin, Charles Nukid is grabbed by a bearodactyl and taken to Monster Kingdom...not to be eaten, but to be crowned their new king. Meanwhile, back at Scary School, the dance is interrupted by zombies. Zillions of very hungry, recently turned bad zombies! Charles’ classmates must find a way to save their friend AND hold back the hordes of killer zombies. When Charles and his friends are reunited, they learn that they must find the one real unicorn and convince him to hand over his horn, in order to turn the zombies back to good. Can the Scary School kids save the day? Will Charles let his power go to his head? Will Dr. Dragobreath eat one of your favorite characters?!

Derek The Ghost (aka Derek Kent) returns to his rollicking, wildly entertaining middle-grade Scary School series with the fourth and final book, Zillions of Zombies. Like books one, two and three, Zillions of Zombies is full of Derek’s signature outrageous humor, frightfully fun storylines, spooktacular settings, and one of a kind characters.

Young readers will be delighted by the thrills, twists, and side-splitting laughs found on every page of Zillions of Zombies! The age-appropriate, yet completely amusing and wickedly exciting, scares are a fun mix of funhouse whimsy, haunted house spooks, and sideshow marvels. Both Scary School itself and the realm of the Monster Kingdom, make for deliciously creepy and endlessly fascinating settings. With fast-paced, captivating storytelling, Zillions of Zombies is a real page-turner!

One of the things I love most about this series, is all the unforgettable and charming characters! From dragons, wolfboys, flower-girls, a talking T. Rex, vampires, trolls, evil dolls, mythological legends, and everything in between, Zillions of Zombies is bursting with engaging, fantastical characters for readers to enjoy.

As the final book in the Scary School series, Zillions of Zombies offers a wonderfully satisfying and cheer-worthy ending that fans will appreciate and love.

my final thoughts: This has quickly become one of my favorite middle-grade series and, even though I’m sad to see it end, it couldn’t have concluded with a better final book. Fans of the series will definitely be happy with Zillions of Zombies and new readers have a wonderful fourth book to look forward to!

MY RATING
5/5 yummy cupcakes

DEREK THE GHOST’S
TEN MOST SURPRISING WAYS TO SURVIVE A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

Hello folks! This is your favorite 11-year-old “ghost writer”, Derek the Ghost. If you’ve been reading my book series Scary School, you’ll know that the students are used to all sorts of horrors on a daily basis, from a dragon teacher that eats his students, to Archie the Giant Squid in the school moat, to an invasion by an army of karate monsters. But nothing compares to what they go through in the latest and final book in the series, Scary School #4: Zillions of Zombies.

Myself and all the students learned all the tricks of the trade to surviving a zombie apocalypse, so now I’d like to share some with you. For more info on zombies and all my books, feel free to visit ScarySchool.com or DerekTaylorKent.com. Happy reading!

10. Walls never work as well as you think. Remember in World War Z when the zombies formed a huge pile of themselves to climb over the walls in Jerusalem? There are all sorts of ways to get over, under, and through walls that zombies are really good at. In Scary School #4, my sister Jacqueline builds a wall out of the wood from her haunted house. It lasts a while, but eventually the persistent zombies find a way through and we were in BIG trouble. Best to stay out in the open because if zombie’s bust through a wall, you’ll be trapped with no chance of escape! H 15  zombies break through the wall.jpg
9. Don’t ever trust a dead zombie. Have you ever seen a show where there’s a zombie corpse lying motionless on the ground. Then one of the characters starts dancing around it or kicking it for no good reason, only to have it come back to life and bite them on the leg? That’s literally a zombie’s favorite game to play. They play possum to draw you close then CHOMP. Assume all zombies are still alive and stay at least twenty to thirty feet away from the at all times. Remember, zombies don’t ever die. That’s their whole thing.

8. Don’t open window blinds. Ever seen a movie when people are locked up in a house. They start hearing pounding on the walls and windows. They open the blinds and hundreds of zombies are there! Moments later they break through the window and pour inside. Duh! They did that because they had confirmation you were in there when you opened the blinds, silly characters. If you had ignored them, they probably would have moved on to the next house.

7. Give ‘em a job! The reason zombies do nothing but wander around in search of brains is because they have nothing better to do. That’s because it’s very hard to get a job as a Zombie-American. Employers just don’t want to hire someone who might bite their co-workers, scare customers away, and can only say “braaaains.” That’s why Scary School takes pride in hiring zombies to be its wait staff in the lunch hall. The work keeps their minds focused and off of eating the students’ brains. Want to stave off a zombie apocalypse? Hire a zombie! unchHallZombie copy.jpg

6. If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em. It’s true that zombies get a lot of flack for being gross, decaying, evil, and dead. But many in the Scary School community deem that to be an unfair assessment. Most would point to Ramon Fernandez, one of the most popular kids at Scary School and gold-medalist in skateboarding, snowboarding and sky-surfing. Oh, and did I mentioned he’s a zombie kid? The fact that he’s already dead makes him fearless in all extreme sports, which gives him the edge he needs to become a champion. He would like everyone to know that there’s nothing wrong with being a zombie, though having friends around to help put you back together when your limbs fall off is helpful. Best way to survive a zombie might just be to become a zombie. It’s not for a everyone, but it’s a perfectly acceptable option.ohnnyRamonePeter copy.jpg

5. Play some one on one. It’s a lesser-known fact that zombies love basketball. Their zombie-ness makes them all “dead-on” shots and they will drain three-pointers on you all day if you give them an inch. If a zombie is chasing you, do your best to run to the nearest basketball court. Then challenge them to a game of one-on-one. Make a deal that if you win, they have to leave you alone. Note: I would only use this strategy if you are an NBA-level hoops star.H 3_b_ Ramon dribbles.jpg

4. Tell them a joke. Zombies have great senses of humor. It’s a common misconception that they are always in a bad mood and starving for flesh and brains. I mean, who isn’t cranky when they’re hungry. Sometimes a funny joke is exactly what a zombie needs to snap him out of his hunger-crazed attack. For instance, one time a zombie had cornered me, so I said, “What’s a zombie’s favorite toy? A deady bear!” The zombie laughed so hard that his jaw fell off. With no jaw he couldn’t bite me and I was home free.

3. Walk the walk. Zombies are not the most observant monsters. The weird shuffling “zombie-walk” is the only way they can tell the difference between themselves and the living. Perfect your best zombie walk (arms out is optional) and you can easily blend in during a time of crisis. But be careful, one skip or smooth move and they’ll be on you like flies on rotting meat.

2. Watch Bruce Lee movies. Did you know that martial arts was originally created to fend off zombie attacks? It’s true! Watch karate master Bruce Lee and copy all of his kicks and punches. Use the deadly arts only in the worst case scenario when a zombie is about to bite you. Local ninja girl/Scary School student, Lattie, likes to bounce off their heads and deliver swift helicopter kicks whenever her or her friends are in trouble. Hi-ya!
H 6_a_ Lattie Kcking Zombies.jpg

  1. All they need is love. Like everyone else in the world, all a zombie really wants, even more than brains, is a little bit of love. Not to give anything away, but in Scary School #4, the zillions of zombies attacking can be traced back to one incident when a zombie was rejected at the school dance. Perhaps giving a zombie a kiss on the cheek is all that’s needed to turn them back to good?
H 23  Frank  kissesRamon.jpg
Derek is an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the classrooms and hallways of Scary School, writing down all the spine-tingling often hilarious things that go on there. Despite his ghostly state, Derek still enjoys reading comic books and hopes to one day become a master ninja. If that doesn’t work out, he will continue to share the fun of this very special, very secret school, so all kids can experience the scariest school on earth. Derek the Ghost communicates through the first-time ghost whisperer Derek Taylor Kent, who is a writer and performer in Los Angeles, California.

Win a copy of Scary School #1!
Derek has generously offered one paperback or ebook copy (winner's choice) of the first book in his Scary School series, to one winner.
DETAILS
-US only
-ends 10/16
please read full rules below

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Word Spelunking is not responsible for lost, damaged, or stolen prizes in the mail. Once a prize is dropped off at the post office, it is no longer my responsibility and I will not compensate in anyway for prizes not delivered because of the USPS.
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By participating in any giveaway, you agree to adhere to these rules. Any breaking of these rules by entrants will disqualify them from the giveaway and their entries will be deleted.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Review: The Northern Frights (Scary School #3) by Derek Kent


Be sure to check out my reviews of Scary School #1 and Scary School #2



The Northern Frights
(Scary School #3)
by Derek Kent
Pub Date: 6/25/13
Pub: Harper Collins
Format: Hardcover
Source: from pub and author
In The Northern Frights, the third book in the spooky Scary School series, Charles “New Kid” Nukid and his friends, including Lattie, a girl ninja, must fight an epic battle with an ice dragon to save their school. But first they must survive going to Scream Academy as exchange students. And that may be hard, because the Academy has an abominable snowman for a principal, a Headless Horseman as one of the teachers, and the students are yetis, trolls, and ogres! Will Charles survive to make an ancient prophecy come to pass and save everyone? The illustrated Scary School trilogy by Derek the Ghost, with its mix of humor, scares, and adventure, is a perfect pick for middle-grade readers of the Wayside School series and the Zach Files books.

Books 1 & 2

WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER


Derek Kent's spooktacular, awesomely kooky Scary School Trilogy comes to a wildly fun end with the third book, The Northern Frights. This is one of my absolute favorite middle-grade series, and while I'm sad to see this trilogy end, I'm happy to report that it goes out with a frighteningly fantastic finale!

In The Northern Frights Charles “New Kid” Nukid and several of his classmates, including Lattie, a new ninja girl, find themselves at Scream Academy as exchange students. Scream Academy is the scariest, wildest, most terrifying monster school there is. With an abominable snowman for a principle, the Headless Horseman as a teacher, and trolls; ogres; and witches as classmates, the Scary School kids are up to their eyeballs in all things spooky and kooky. And the scariest thing of all is an epic showdown between a huge ice dragon and the Scary School kids. Charles and his friends must defeat the ice dragon or lose their beloved school.

Derek Kent's (aka Derek the Ghost) over-the-top in the best way possible, a laugh and a fun scare a minute Scary School series is the epitome of fun reading! Everything I've come to love about this series- the pitch-perfect MG voice, the spectacular storytelling, the unforgettable characters, the awesome illustrations- is seamlessly and fantastically carried over from each book and really sparkles and shines in The Northern Frights.

Derek Kent knows his audience and “gets” them so well. Younger readers will be charmed by this series' silly humor, thoroughly entertained by the wacky situations the characters find themselves in, and utterly addicted to the world-building, which is equal parts whimsical, eerie, and fascinating. The Northern Frights, like books one and two, has the perfect mix of thrills and chills and humor and adventure, and is always appropriate for its intended audience. The spooks and kooks in this series are scary enough to be exciting, but never nightmare worthy. In book three, we get to explore a whole new setting, Scream Academy. I've said before that Scary School is like a crazier, zanier, but just as unpredictable and enthralling, Hogwarts...well if Hogwarts had an evil, bonkers twin, it would be the too cool Scream Academy. Just like the Scary School exchange students, readers will explore every dark corridor and classroom of Scream Academy with spine-tingling anticipation, and open every door and take every footstep with bated breath, never knowing what might just jump out, fall down, or magically appear.

I just adore the unique, eclectic bunch of characters in this series! Kent has a real knack for creating refreshing characters that are relatable and lovable, even when they may have a frightening appearance (or appetite!). All my faves are back and many new, awesomely unusual faces are introduced in The Northern Frights. I loved meeting the more monstrous students and teachers of Scream Academy, but Lattie the ninja girl is especially cool. But what I love the most about all these characters, are the genuine, surprising friendships and relationships they develop with one another. And as spooktacularly fun as this series is, these books also send young readers a really great message about the power of friendship, acceptance, and courage.

The Northern Frights will keep readers eagerly turning pages, especially when the thrilling and explosive battle with the ice dragon begins, and ends on a really satisfying and happy note (and ends with room for future adventures...I really hope there's more Scary School fun to come!).

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: The Northern Frights is the perfect enthralling and scary fun filled conclusion to this deliciously spooky trilogy. If you're a fan of the series, then you'll love book three. And if you haven't started the series yet, you're in for an awesome surprise. This must read book and series are excellent reads for younger readers (and grown-ups too!). I highly recommend them!

MY RATING

Purchase

Derek Kent
Derek is an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the classrooms and hallways of Scary School, writing down all the spine-tingling often hilarious things that go on there. Despite his ghostly state, Derek still enjoys reading comic books and hopes to one day become a master ninja. If that doesn’t work out, he will continue to share the fun of this very special, very secret school, so all kids can experience the scariest school on earth. Derek the Ghost communicates through the first-time ghost whisperer Derek Taylor Kent, who is a writer and performer in Los Angeles, California.




Friday, June 28, 2013

Guest Post and Giveaway: Derek Kent, author of the Scary School Series


I'm so thrilled to have author Derek Kent stopping by today for a guest post and giveaway! Derek is the author of the Scary School Series, a scary awesome middle-grade series. You can check out my reviews of Scary School #1, Monsters on the March (Scary School #2), and The Northern Frights (Scary School #3) was just released.


Scary School
by Derek Kent
6/21/11
Harper Collins

You think your school's scary?
Get a load of these teachers:
Ms. Fang, an 850-year-old vampire
Dr. Dragonbreath, who just might eat you before recess
Mr. Snakeskin—science class is so much more fun when it's taught by someone who's half zombie
Mrs. T—break the rules and spend your detention with a hungryTyrannosaurus rex!
Plus
Gargoyles, goblins, and Frankenstein's monster on the loose
The world's most frighteningly delicious school lunch
And
The narrator's an eleven-year-old ghost!
Join Charles "New Kid" Nukid as he makes some very Scary friends—including Petunia, Johnny, and Peter the Wolf—and figures out that Scary School can be just as funny as it is spooky!

Books 2 and 3


Watch the Scary School Trailer

A Ghost’s Inspiration
By Derek Taylor Kent

Hello everyone. My name is Derek Taylor Kent (AKA Derek the Ghost). I’m the author of the middle-grade book series Scary School from HarperCollins. Book one came out last year and received some great notices and even won the Children Literature Network award for funniest chapter book of 2011! Book 2 of the series came out June 26, 2012 and Book 3 the June after that. In case you don’t know much about it, it’s a series about a school where just making it to lunch with all your arms and legs is considered the great day.

For this blog, I was asked to talk about what inspired me to become a writer. It’s a question I get asked a lot. As a children’s author I do many school visits and it’s one of the most common questions asked by kids. So, I have a few stock answers in my back pocket that I’m always ready to pull out.

However, now that I’m sitting down and really analyzing the question, I realize that inspiration is a very mysterious thing that deserves to be delved into more deeply than my back pocket.
I think a profession is very special that requires inspiration before even being considered. Do accountants get the question: What inspired you to become an accountant? Or: what inspired you to become a lawyer? Or even: What inspired you to become a doctor? I’m not saying that great stories of inspiration aren’t possible for those professions, I’m just saying that I don’t think it’s a question they get asked a lot because inspiration is not a prerequisite. Plus the story of inspiration probably wouldn’t be very interesting. Most would probably be: I was inspired by the idea of having a steady, well-paying job for the next forty-five years.

Fair enough.

Sometimes, I envy them for having that stability, but alas, that will probably not be the case for me, because I am inspired to write children’s books. I get paid in the sound of children’s laughter and the joy of enriching young minds. I also get a little bit of money, but not yet enough that I can quit my day job fixing things in my apartment complex. But, to be honest, I’d rather have half my arm down a toilet drain than be crunching numbers or looking at blood all day, so it will do for now.

I believe that inspiration for a profession can be broken down into three categories:
  1. Childhood environment.
  2. Moments of epiphany.
  3. Adulthood passions.
I’ll go through how each one of these inspired me to become a writer.

Number one. My home environment.

I grew up in a very artistic household. My mom is a very popular artist named Melanie Taylor Kent. I’ll wait while you Google her to see her artwork. Pretty amazing, right?

When my mom’s art career took off, my father quit his job as a lawyer to stay at home and run the art business. So I grew up in an environment where the example was that pursuit of creative endeavors can not only be viable, but can be hugely successful. Granted, it was the 80s.
My mom’s art business was huge. She was doing commissioned works for Disney, Warner Bros., Lucasfilm, Steven Spielberg, Hanna Barbara and countless others. Plus, my mom was always very, very encouraging of mine and my sister’s creativity. She seemed to desperately want us to follow in her footsteps. I wasn’t a good artist, but my sister is. I gravitated more toward writing and acting, and Mom’s eyes, I was William Shakespeare and Robin Williams rolled into one.

So, I had a lot of support at home, as well as an in-house example that creativity can be quite lucrative. I was probably doomed.

But that’s not to say that there wasn’t an example of hard work being essential. My mom taught art classes in LAUSD schools for ten years. When she started trying to sell her paintings, every gallery and publisher rejected her. She had to go to art shows in parks for years to prove that there was a market for her art and that it could sell. And that’s exactly the stage that I’m at right now. Every weekend I’m at bookfairs and author festivals, signing my books and trying my best to create a sensation one book at a time.

I have no idea if it will eventually pay off like my mom’s did. But I am a little bit hopeful because kid’s books are pretty much recession-proof, while her art business was not.

Number two. Moments of epiphany.

I think we all know these specific moments of great clarity and happiness where our destiny seems crystal clear before our eyes. I remember when I was nine years old I wrote a story in my fourth grade creative writing class. It was a story about how far I would go eat my favorite food, which at the time was Stouffer’s frozen noodles romanoff.

The teacher read the stories in class the next day, but I was out sick. However, the teacher sent home a card with my sister. It was a get-well card from my class, but on it, my classmates had written how funny the story was and that the teacher had said it was the best story in the class. Apparently I had everyone on the floor laughing, but I wasn’t even there to see it. It’s probably much better in my imagination anyway. I had an epiphany that writing stories that would make all my friends laugh was what I wanted to do. The following years I would be writing skits and plays constantly to perform for the class and all of that pretty much continues to this day. It still comes very easily for me to make my friends laugh and also nine-year-olds.

Number Three. Adulthood passions.

When I was fifteen years old, I became obsessed with Dr. Seuss. Like all kids, I loved him when I was six, but I reread his books when I got older with a whole new appreciation for the imagination, poetry, and creative wordplay.

I really, really wanted to be the next Dr. Seuss. So, I started writing children’s picture books in his style. The intention was to have my mom illustrate them and we could sell them as a mother-son duo. There were just a few problems. My stories were epic. Way too long for picture books. They turned out to be more of a cross between Lord of the Rings and Wizard of Oz told in rhyming couplets than your average five-minute picture book. Nobody had every seen anything like it. The other problem was I had left for college and my mom was going through a divorce and she couldn’t finish the illustrations (although there are countless incredible sketches of the fantastical world we created).

But I kept plugging away with this epic book series for ten years. I even got an agent for it at one point, but nothing would ever come of it. Just as my Dr. Seuss dreams were fading, I started reading the Harry Potter series. I had another moment of epiphany that occurred through following my passion for literature. This is what I should be doing! Writing novels where I can create an entire unique world and not be foiled by the constraints of picture books.
It was my love of Dr. Seuss that gave me the bug for writing children’s books and my obsession with Harry Potter that inspired the idea of writing novels.

There were several failed attempts of novels at first, but eventually I finally got my first book deal with the Scary School series. And now, I receive emails from kids every day telling me how much the book makes them laugh. And every time I get one, I’m nine-year-old Derek again having an epiphany that I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.

You can check out more about the Scary School book series at www.ScarySchool.com

Derek Kent
Derek is an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the classrooms and hallways of Scary School, writing down all the spine-tingling often hilarious things that go on there. Despite his ghostly state, Derek still enjoys reading comic books and hopes to one day become a master ninja. If that doesn’t work out, he will continue to share the fun of this very special, very secret school, so all kids can experience the scariest school on earth. Derek the Ghost communicates through the first-time ghost whisperer Derek Taylor Kent, who is a writer and performer in Los Angeles, California.

Win an ebook copy of Scary School #1!
Derek has generously offered an ebook copy of the first Scary School book to one lucky winner. If you have a young reader in your life, this would make the perfect summer read.
DETAILS
-open to anyone who can read ebooks
-will end 7/7
-must be 13+, one main/free entry per person
-winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours
Fill out Rafflecopter form: