“Ridiculous in all the best ways.” —Kirkus Reviews

In the fifth installment of National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson’s Pals in Peril series, the intrepid heroes are home from their Delaware crime-stopping excitement, only to discover that Lily’s mom has become possessed by a menacing zombie who wants to take over the world! (Or, at least, the world of stage and screen.)

When Lily’s mother returns from a little vacation to Todburg—the most haunted town in America—she seems different. She can no longer speak French. She makes better pancakes. And also she no longer recognizes Lily, her own daughter. What if she was taken over…and is now something dangerous and undead?

So our intrepid heroes—Lily Gefelty, Katie Mulligan, and Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut—blast off on another rollicking adventure, this time to the world of ghosts, ghouls, bats, tarantulas, web-footed vampires, sad-sack magicians, and ninja prep-school girls with love and fashion on their side. The night is dark and the enemies are fierce. You won’t know whether to laugh or scream!

About The Author

M.T. Anderson

M.T. Anderson is the author of the Pals in Peril series; The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation series, the first volume of which won the National Book Award; The Norumbegan Quartet; Burger Wuss; Thirsty; and Feed, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, a Boston Globe–Horn Honor Book, and the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Young Adults. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Visit him at MT-Anderson.com.

About The Illustrator

photo courtesy of the author

Kurt Cyrus

Kurt Cyrus has illustrated numerous acclaimed picture books celebrating the natural world, including What in the World?: Numbers in Nature by Nancy Raines Day; Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler; and his own Tadpole Rex and The Voyage of Turtle Rex. His art also appears in the middle grade series Pals in Peril by M.T. Anderson. Kurt lives with his wife in McMinnville, Oregon. Visit him at KurtCyrus.com.