Some will be tempted to skip Zombie Baseball Beatdown, with its chuckle-inducing title and cartoonishly violent cover. So let's clear things up: yes, there are zombies. Yes, they moan for brains. But Paolo Bacigalupi (Ship Breaker) weaves into this absurdist horror-comedy some hard-hitting explorations of political and ethical issues. Characters encounter racism, live in terror of the department of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and seek to expose the shady practices of the meat industry. Such content demands deeper delving.
Best friends Rabi (who narrates), Miguel and Joe live in a small town that is home to a giant meatpacking plant, Milrow Meat Solutions. The boys' batting practice is interrupted by horrendous stink, which Rabi describes as "Ashy-barfy-rotten-meat-dead-cow-manure-sewer nasty," emanating from the plant. Before long, the friends are fighting zombie humans, followed by zombie cows. Those who run Milrow, it seems, have decided to pump so many chemicals into their livestock that the cows can no longer die.
But undead cattle are not all that is rotten in the Milrow Corporation. Ever since Miguel's father (a former plant employee) posted some footage from inside the factory on YouTube, they've targeted his undocumented family for deportation. Rabi has his share of problems, not least of which is his embarrassment at a mother who cheers at his baseball games wearing "a bright yellow sari... and a red bindi in the middle of her brown forehead." But it is Miguel who will make the lasting impression on readers--forced to watch all his caregivers leave, branded an "illegal" and acutely aware that he is growing out of his once adorable-Mexican-kid status and into a dark-skinned teen perceived as a threat. Blond, all-American Joe may be less prominent in the novel but his presence raises a striking contrast: whereas Rabi and Miguel are highly attuned to how the world perceives them, Joe has the luxury of not having to think about it.
The first of what readers will hope is a new genre mashup, Zombie Baseball Beatdown is a collision of worlds. Who expects a book in which the author devotes page after page to describing the behavior of zombie cows to introduce such rich fodder for discussion? And yet conversation-starters abound, such as Miguel's response to Rabi's suggestion that they go to the police after dismembering their zombified baseball coach: "We going to tell them that we hit Mr. Corcoran until we broke his arms and legs... and his head? You know that'll get me deported, for sure."
Kids will devour this like a zombie would a plate of fresh brains; let's hope that their grownups are also adventurous and open-minded readers. --Allie Jane Bruce
Shelf Talker: National Book Award finalist Paolo Bacigalupi invents an absurdist horror-comedy that explores racism, the treatment of undocumented immigrants, and the morals of the meat industry.