Zoey Abbott is the author of This Year, a Witch!; How to Draw a Zombie; Banana; Clementine and the Lion; I Do Not Like Yolanda; and finalist for the Oregon Book Award, Pig and Horse and the Something Scary. She lives in Oregon with her family and their dog, Carrots.

Abbott and Wagner take a decidedly different approach to teaching young people to draw. [...] The book's message seems to be to eschew perfectionism, but it could also be that one should follow one's own artistic vision rather than obediently following an instructor's. Abbott uses ink, pencil, and construction paper (there are intermittent highlighter-bright color backdrops and accents) to illustrate the book, which concludes with a zombie driving a fancy car (its arm having flown off). A riotous think-outside-the-box lesson disguised as a how-to-draw book. --Kirkus Reviews "June 1st issue

"

Abbott and Wagner dash a score of friendly paper zombies onto lemon yellow, cornflower blue, and lime green backgrounds; the winsome, frenetic linework frequently scrapes and stutters off mid-stroke, wobbling and broken like undead steps. Delight in disparity drives much of the comedy here. [...] Alongside the silliness of zombies in perms, imperatives to draw more dog barf, and discussions of whether zombies should have their rotting bums exposed ("who ever heard of a naked zombie?") comes a surprisingly kind-hearted affirmation of all the lopsided imperfection and endless creative potential that makes being a human so much dang fun. [...] This is an ideal read for kids who might need a little help with learning to make mistakes safely--but not too safely.--BCCB "July/August 2026"

Publisher: Atheneum Books

Pub date: 2026-07-07

Length: 40 pages