The Curse of Heartwood Academy

Gr 7 Up–Fifteen-year-old Allie Lau’s arrival at Heartwood Academy is anything but welcoming. Between a sleep-talking roommate and a cruel hazing ritual led by the wealthy, mean-spirited Pru Cotton, Allie wishes her parents hadn’t sent her to the mysterious boarding school. However, the real terror begins when Allie accidentally awakens an angry zombie in the surrounding woods. Chan wastes no time establishing the core cast and conflict by the end of the third chapter. From there, the narrative continues to move fast, throwing Allie and her new friend Ricki into a “test” that starts as a prank and ends in death. The prose is blunt and visceral, perfect for reluctant readers who want action without dense exposition. Descriptions of a worm-filled zombie mouth and dead animal carcasses provide gruesome details without becoming gratuitous. The zombies’ identities provide an intriguing bit of lore. Frequent cliff-hangers and continuous action keep the pages turning, but the characterizations are thin; Allie’s brief internal monologues provide only a surface-level glimpse of her home life, and the one adult character is negligent. Even the soul-sucking death of a primary antagonist elicits little emotional response from the survivors. Allie is Chinese American.