3.5 ⭐️

My 5 year old was really excited to read this book being drawn to the title and images on the cover.

Overall it was a cute story about Stompie the Zombie, which for my little boy, was right up his street. The pictures were super colourful and he did enjoy the book. Especially liking the family all swimming at the end.

At times however, the story felt a little hard for him to follow, without me explaining bits and there were lots of puns which whilst amusing, were too complex for him to understand. Aimed more for the adult reading, I suspect.
But he did like the book, and didn’t seem put off at all.


Thank you to NetGalley and Two Lions for this arc for my honest review.

This was absolutely adorable and super “pun”-ny!! I loved the illustration style - it was very engaging and very colorful. This is the perfect spooky season read. I could see the concept and some of the puns being a little too advanced for some of the younger readers but overall still a great read!

My daughter and I enjoyed reading this book, we thought the wording was fun and clever.
The illustrations were boo-tiful and very creative.
My daughter said that she highly recommends this book especially for a spooky occasion.
Its a book that she would read again.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing us to read and review this book.

this is adorable! perfect for fall (i can totally see this read again and again near halloween), this book’s illustration was to DIE for. i loved the textures, and each pages teems with things to look at.

the plays on words were also lovely (tomb-orrow, urgent scare, re-flesh-ments, “marrow escape” when discussing a broken bone). i can already feel the giggling from the kids reading and the fun brain-expansion pathways these cute puns open. a wonderful little book!

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this book! Stompie's story is unique, fun, and perfectly spooky. This boook is perfect for young readers because there is a lot of familiar vocabulary, with some more complex words sprinkled throughout. Additionally, the plot made a lot of sense and was organized nicely. The illustrations were amazing! I love how the illustrator had a clear vision and conveyed that through a central color palette and drawing style. The creepy, quirky, and enjoyable theme of the book is mainly thanks to these illustrations. However, this tone is completed with the witty puns on nearly every page. My only critique for this is that little ones might not fully understand every joke. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cleverly-placed jokes that will land nicely and have kids giggling as they read. But, some of the words are a little to complex/advanced and won't land quite as nicely. That aside, I generally really enjoyed this book!

Absolutely adorable! A shrieking good time and sweet story for the whole family. Stompie’s plans don’t exactly go to plan but the real surprise turns out to be more than he could hope for! I love the family dynamic and all the fun play on words. A perfect Halloween book for all.

I expected this to just be a cute hallowe'en read, but I actually think it would be fantastic for kids who need to be in the hospital.

"Stompie the Zombie" contains zany and fantastical illustrations, perfect for anyone who loves Halloween or the spookier characters in fiction. My only concern with the story was the over-abundance of puns. They were fun, do not get me wrong, but the amount caused the humor to dry up rather quickly. The color of the font also caused words to disappear into some of the illustrations, which cost one the ability to follow the entire plot. While whimsical in so many fun ways, I would have to pass on this title, but would love to see more from the author.

A funny punny book about a zombie who has an injury and also the support of his zombie family. Stompie plans a family reunion and then almost misses it due to an injury. His family comes together to make it all work out in the end.

The illustrations in this were incredibly bright and fun! My 2.5 yo made me read this to her 3 times in a row! This book was a hit with all of the super natural beings (my child lovesssss Halloween). I plan to purchase her a physical copy so she can flip through it as much as she wants. The story was so fun and fantatical. I’d say this is probably best for ages 3-5 but it wasn’t too much for my 2.5 yo since she was very interested in the pictures.

This one is too cute! All of the punny names were perfect; “urgent scare”, “gross-ery store”, “squeal chair” (to name a few).

Synopsis: Stompie just wants a fun family reunion (because he hasn’t seen his family in 500 years)! When he gets injured, he thinks the reunion is no longer going to work out, and he’s very disappointed. Things definitely turn around thanks to Itchy Witchy!

Review: I definitely want to buy this book for my toddler when it releases! I also want to buy a few copies for my friends and their kids! My only complaint is that the story doesn’t overall rhyme, and my brain wanted it to as I read it.

Definitely don’t miss out on Stompie the Zombie! Grab it for a little one near you. 🫶🏼

Thank you to NetGalley & Two Lions Publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Releases August 12, 2025!

Thank you so much to Two Lions and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Stompie is having a long overdue family reunion, but as he goes to get his supplies for the party, he hurts himself landing him in the hospital. He deems his reunion ruined and thinks he won’t see his family now, but a surprise is in store for him.

This was hilarious, utterly hilarious. It was full of puns and played on the words, it was such an amazingly hilarious book. I loved seeing the changed words to suit the characters in the book, it really made it so much funnier and added so much to the book.

We had such an array of characters from zombies, to vampires, to witches, I really loved seeing them all come together within this book. Poor Stompie, breaking his leg the way he did, it looked painful. The illustrations and story work perfectly together seeing the story unfolding and all the characters, I also loved his zombie dog it was the cutest.

A hilarious and fun read perfect for young ones to enjoy, to also a great book if you like to read books with slightly creepy characters in or like to read specifically for Halloween, either way this works perfectly for a general read or a Halloween read.

Such a cute story! My son giggled so hard reading this and he was so interested in it! Super super cute!

This is THE CUTEST halloween time book for toddlers and little kids! I would 100% buy this to add to my son's collection. I love all of the cute play on words like "Grossery store" "Marrow escape" "urgent scare". The graphics are adorable and while kids may not get the puns, this makes it a fun read for adults too. The storyline is adorable and it is overall a super cute read. I would highly recommend this for anyone with small kids and even pre-K/KG classrooms.

Edited to add, I read this to my 3 year old and he has already reciting it, asking where his real book is—I will be purchasing more books by this author and specifically this book as soon as I can!

The pictures in this book are so bright and cute, and I absolutely loved Stompie, a zombie who hasn't seen his family for 500 years and decides to invite them to a reunion. Everything is going so well as he gets ready-- until he gets hurt! Will this interfere with his plans? This is a warm hearted, sweet book about zombies. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

This was about a zombie family reunion. This was original and super cute with the colorful illustrations! I would read this to my own children or have it available at a library where students could pick it out themselves. It would be a good addition to an October reading collection for my class.

I really loved the artwork in the books. The colour palette was beautiful. Unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly drawn in by the story and felt like a lot of the puns would just go straight over the heads of the lower end of the recommended age for this book. Given that the story heavily relied on the puns throughout the book, I think this would only be enjoyed the older end of the reading bracket.

Stompie the Zombie is excited for his family reunion and busy preparing when he gets hurt and has to go to Urgent Scare. The text was cute with lots of puns and the illustrations were really fun. My daughter didn't love that Stompie got hurt and needed surgery at Urgent Scare. That part definitely had her very concerned.

Thank you to NetGalley and Two Lions for the ARC.

This book is a cute story about some spooky beings getting together for a family reunion and celebrating despite a setback. The illustrations are great. My only critique is that not all of the all-capitalized words were actually puns. If I could give half stars, I’d say 3.5/5.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

HILARIOUS and so PUN-NY! I loved reading this story and found all the puns so funny! Made me laugh out loud! Binny Talib's illustrations are gorgeous, so detailed and full of vibrant colors and textures! I look forward to checking out more books by Margery Cuyler and Binny Talib!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.