Six of the most unexpected narrators in YA fiction

Sarah Skilton is the author of Bruised, a martial arts drama for young adults; and High and Dry, a hardboiled teen mystery. At the BN Teen blog she tagged six of the most unusual YA narrators, including:

Narrator: A zombie

Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion

“I am dead, but it’s not so bad. I’ve learned to live with it.” Narrator “R” has no specific memories of his life, so when he chows down on the brain of a sensitive, misanthropic young man named Perry, the experience provides R with emotion, life, and love…for Julie, Perry’s 19-year-old girlfriend. R is hooked on the feeling, and takes Julie (a self-described “wreck in progress”) home to keep her safe from his zombie brethren. Existential philosophy (“Am I Perry’s afterlife?”) and a hope-filled quest of “reverse-engineering himself into someone new” follow, and somehow the R(omeo) and Julie(t) bond works. You’ll be rooting for the star-crossed romance despite the oddness factor.

Read about another entry on the list.

Warm Bodies is among Rachel Paxton-Gillilan's five funniest YA zombie novels, Nick Harkaway's six favorite holiday books, and Nicole Hill's seven favorite literary oddballs.

The Page 69 Test: Warm Bodies.

My Book, The Movie: Warm Bodies.

--Marshal Zeringue