Generation Dead (Generation Dead Series #1) by Daniel Waters

From the Publisher

Phoebe is just your typical goth girl with a crush.  He's strong and silent.and dead.  

All over the country, a strange phenomenon is happening.  Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead.  They are coming back to life, but they are no longer the same-they stutter, and their reactions to everything are slower.   Termed "living impaired" or "differently biotic," they are doing their best to fit into a society that doesn't want them. 

Fitting in is hard enough when you don't have the look or attitude, but when almost everyone else is alive and you're not, it's close to impossible.   The kids at Oakvale High don't want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn't breathing.  And there are no laws that exist to protect the differently biotic from the people who want them to disappear-for good. 

With her pale skin and Goth wardrobe, Phoebe has never run with the popular crowd.  But no one can believe it when she falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids.  Not her best friend, Margi, whose fear of the differently biotic is deeply rooted in guilt over the past.  And especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team.  Adam has just realized his feelings for Phoebe run much deeper than just friendship.   He would do anything for her, but what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?  

Generation Dead is a sharp, funny, and breathtakingly original novel from an exciting new talent.

The New York Times - Regina Marler

Witty and well written, Generation Dead is a classic desegregation story that also skewers adult attempts to make teenagers play nice. An unctuous father-daughter research team enlists a handful of students at Oakvale High for its work-study program on the differently biotic, but the most effective adult in the book is the coach who wants to arrange a hit on a zombie who's tried out for football ("case of beer to whoever puts him out"). Motivational speakers, politically correct speech and encounter groups come in for special ridicule.

Publishers Weekly

Waters's strong first novel introduces a cast of memorable characters—both dead and alive. For unknown reasons, American teenagers who die are coming back to life. Known as the "living impaired" or "differently biotic," these teens walk among the living and even attend school, but face massive prejudice. Phoebe Kendall, a junior at Oakvale High in Connecticut, is alive and well, but shockingly, she has a crush on Tommy Williams, who's dead. Her best friend, Margi, thinks she's crazy, and her friend and neighbor Adam, who has a secret thing for Phoebe, can't understand what she sees in the dead kid. The situation gets worse when school bully Pete Martinsburg's hatred of the undead leads him to lash out violently. The dialogue can be stiff and Waters leaves many questions unanswered (Do the dead teens age? Can they be hurt and then heal? Why do they go to school?). In balance, however, the creepy premise is solid enough, and will easily capture the reader's imagination. Ages 12-up. (May)

Children's Literature

Zombies are not the monsters in Daniel Waters's novel; the prejudiced living are. For an unexplained reason, American teens who have died tragically are coming back to life, sort of. They are the living dead and many are abandoned by family in fear and are hassled at school. Tommy Williams, one of the "living impaired," wants to play football. But his playing does not meet with the approval of many people in town, including the coach and several players. Star football player Adam, though, is willing to give Tommy a chance. And living classmate Phoebe is willing to go even further in accepting the undead; she dates Tommy. These students become part of a study of the phenomenon that puts both living and undead together in a study group, helping to build acceptance and camaraderie. The study is funded through an ambiguous research group that promises to investigate the zombie occurrences at Oakvale High School. All of this attention to the undead doesn't sit well with Pete Martensburg, who is the real villain, a living teen with issues of his own, plotting the destruction of the zombies who seem to be gaining acceptance in the high school. Waters's novel is a fascinating, haunting tale of prejudice and fear. It is the first of what promises to be a compelling series of novels that look at death from a fantastic, yet honest, perspective. Reviewer: Janis Flint-Ferguson

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up

Phoebe and her fellow Oakvale High students aren't quite sure why dead teenagers started coming back to life and attending their school. The eerie phenomenon is attributed to a combination of "teenage hormones and fast food preservatives," happening only in the United States. Though Oakvale has a reputation for being most supportive of these "living impaired" teens, most of the students aren't happy about the thought of having to eat, study, and socialize in an environment permeated with the deceased. Unlike most of her fellow students, Goth-girl Phoebe finds herself harboring a crush on Tommy, one of the dead teens. A love triangle soon develops when her friend Adam, who is supportive of Tommy and the zombies, realizes that he is also in love with her. A threat by another student to destroy the dead teens ultimately forces Adam to choose between old alliances and protecting the living dead teens he has come to admire. In this debut novel, Waters shows an impressive understanding of the factors affecting teens as they navigate the high school environment. Using humor to lighten a world that is mixed with both violence and horror, he is able to capture readers' attention and sympathy for a group of very complex characters.-Caryl Soriano, New York Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Is it too many junk-food preservatives? Brain patterns rewired by first-person shooter games? Or simply a sign of the Apocalypse? No one knows why deceased American teenagers are returning as zombies (please, call them "living impaired"), but it's happening. At progressive Oakvale High, Phoebe, who was Goth long before this phenomenon, wonders why she is attracted to differently biotic Tommy. Along with best friend Margi and childhood buddy Adam (who can't express his love for her), Phoebe joins Undead Studies, so she can understand what it's like to be dead in a living world and reconcile the recent death and return of another good friend. Not everyone, however, is so accepting of this dawn of the dead. Someone's kidnapping zombies, and one popular student, obsessed with a dead girlfriend who never returned, wants the dead to stay that way. Stephenie Meyer meets John Green in debut author Waters's wry, original supernatural romance, which blends sensitivity and deadpan humor to reflect a culture clash on both sides of the living spectrum. (Fiction. YA)

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