Since all this COPPA [Children's Online Privacy Protection Act] business from the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] is stirring up YouTube, I’ve decided to skip making a video sharing the books I’m giving my little cousins for Christmas this year. For those interested in my 2018 picks, you can go back and check out the video from last year. So ain’t nobody got time to deal with all that COPPA/FTC stuff (or that potential over $40k infringement fine), but because we’re here to talk about books, we’ll do it here.
Below is a synopsis from the first book in the series, The Last Kids on Earth
"Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average thirteen year old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he's armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hordes of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So Jack builds a team: his dorky best friend, Quint; the reformed middle school bully, Dirk; Jack's loyal pet monster, Rover; and Jack's crush, June. With their help, Jack is going to slay Blarg, achieve the ultimate Feat of Apocalyptic Success, and be average no longer! Can he do it? "My eleven-going-on-twelve-year-old cousin has Christmas then his birthday coming up five days down the road. So in celebration of both, I got him the first three books in The Last Kids on Earth series. He's a sixth-grader so the books are right on time, considering the reading Grade is from 3-6. Anyway, the series arrived toted as Diary of the Wimpy Kid blended with The Walking Dead. And, well, he picked them out. I thought they sounded/looked cool myself (who doesn't love zombies!?). I push for him to read more, so luckily the hunt for his interests went smooth. I didn't have to wonder if this or that series would grab his attention.
Anyway, the first book in this series released in 2015; the books are also up for a Netflix series. And two things rang when I learned this. One: there were plenty more books up ahead to keep him reading. Two: kids love Netflix so what better way to keep him reading as he relates the two forms of media.
