Review Detail

THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL is an engaging retelling of the popular series. The story follows Jack, a 13-year-old amateur photographer who has been living in a treehouse since the end of the world due to zombies and monsters. He is eager to get in touch with his best friend and to find his crush (if they haven't been turned into zombies). Along the way, he has tried to lighten up his world by comparing it to video games with achievements and noting monster skills/weaknesses. This apocalypse is anything but easy!

What I loved: This was a really engaging format that worked so well. Jack's personality comes across throughout the story with his badges and monster details appearing in full color. The story is told equally through the images as with the text, so the text never takes over. The illustrations are fantastic, colorful, and imaginative, and they really tell the story, having been modified into a graphic novel extremely well - so well, it feels like this could have been the original format. The text is easy to follow along and maintains a great conversational tone throughout, with a bit of humor despite the circumstances.

There are a lot of strong themes in the story around bullying, working together, friendship, adaptability/dealing with change, forgiveness, and fear/bravery. These are themes that work well for the intended audience. Due to some of the scariness of monsters/fighting, I would recommend this more for an older middle grade/young YA audience, which also works well due to the main characters' ages (13).

Final verdict: THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL is an engaging and adventurous middle grade story with compelling characters, plenty of action/adventure, and strong themes. Would recommend for older MG/young YA readers.