Description

---

Could Bert really be a zombie cat? Two friends put their brains together to find out in a wry new mystery series.

While helping her best friend, Danny, film his latest horror flick, Mellie discovers a scraggly cat behind a dumpster outside the YummCo Foods factory. Mellie names the stray Bert and hides him in her room, knowing her parents won’t let her keep him. But soon Bert has decapitated all her stuffed animals, and before long he is leaving the headless corpses of birds and mice as gifts for her. Danny is convinced the cat is a zombie, living on the brains of his victims. But is that what is really going on? Award-winning author Kara LaReau lets loose a fresh and sharply funny new mystery series, with an irresistible touch of the macabre. Fans of creepy stories and animal lovers alike will devour this fast-moving first episode in one gulp.

About the Author

---

Kara LaReau is the author of many books for young readers, including the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book The Infamous Ratsos, The Infamous Ratsos Are Not Afraid, and The Infamous Ratsos: Project Fluffy. She is also the author of the Bland Sisters series of chapter books. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Ryan Andrews is the illustrator of The Dollar Kids by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. He is also a comics artist, and two of his web comics have been nominated for Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. He lives in Fukuoka, Japan.

Praise For…

---

The parallel stories of Mellie’s discovery of Bert, the search for Y-91, and Bert, as he pursues a mission of his own, will keep young fans of the slightly spooky turning pages…and eager for the next installment...Enjoyably mysterious.
—Kirkus Reviews

LaReau (the Infamous Ratsos series) credibly weaves real-life strands into the plot—Mellie resents her lifestyle blogger parents’ preoccupation with their work, is anxious about presenting her school report, and tries to deflect a bully’s taunts...Energetic pictures by Andrews (The Dollar Kids) add to the story’s mood.
—Publishers Weekly

This first in a planned series delivers an entertainingly foul-looking feline hero with a death stare...This could make an eventful quick read for youngsters who want to dabble in early horror without getting too scared.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Frequent digital sketches add suspense to a story with dead-on appeal for Halloween reading.
—The Horn Book