What Do We Know About Zombies?

What Do We Know About?

by Meg Belviso, Who HQ, Andrew Thomson (illustrator)

The What Do We Know About? series explores the mysterious, the unknown, and the unexplained. Are zombies real, myth, or legend? Find out all we know about the history of zombies.

Zombies—the undead—have long been a subject of fascination. But can the dead really be brought back to life?

When explorer William Seabrook first recorded details of his travels in Haiti in 1929, he explained witnessing undead people working in the sugarcane fields there. He also wrote about Haitian stories that explained zombies as undead people who had been forced into labor.

Since then, zombie lore has expanded and changed based on location and culture, and zombies have become a hot topic in Hollywood and popular media. They gained widespread Western interest when the movie Night of the Living Dead premiered in 1968. In this book, readers will learn about the folklore of zombies and all manner of the living dead, including how zombies continue to strike fear into the hearts of countless people.

Genres: Nonfiction

112 pages, Library Binding

Published July 29, 2025

Reviews

[Chris Donovan]

Fun, good narration, but how do you do a history on zombies without mentioning “The Walking Dead” 🙃?

[McKenzie Richardson]

For more bookish opinions, visit my blog: Craft-Cycle

An interesting introduction into the history of zombies and how they went from the obedient undead to the ravenous creatures we know today.

The book covers various information related to zombies including the origin of zombies in Vodou, their evolution through mass media, real-world parasites and diseases, children's pop culture, and survival tips.

While not an extensive look at the history of zombies in mass media, it does provide a nice variety of pivotal moments. Especially since this is meant for a younger audience, I think the focus on older materials that really solidified and changed the zombie genre were important editions, from Night of the Living Dead to "Thriller". It also discusses a collection of children and teen materials such as Warm Bodies, Plants Vs. Zombies, and The Last Kids on Earth.

Includes engaging illustrations that pair well with the text.

Overall, nicely written. I appreciate the information on the historical, pop culture, and real-world aspects of zombies. This is a nice little intro for someone learning more about zombies. It is in no way extensive and rather gives a simple overview of various aspects within the history of zombies.

[Della Tingle]

I have read dozens of these books (Who Is/Who Was/Where Is/What Do We Know about), and I love them! They are short books with a nice bit of information you can gather quickly!

This was a fun read!

I now need to watch:
The Last Man on Earth
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
The Return of the Living Dead
An American Werewolf in London
28 Days Later

I need to read:
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

[Brantley Towns]

This book was super good but not the best of the best. It really is just movies after movies making them more popular the MJ part was cool though. If Ur not a big fan of zombies don't get this book and something else but if you are a big fan of zombies you should get this book!. It really depends on if you like zombies or not.

[Richard Alvarado]

If you grew up a horror fan and loved reading about horror and other spooky things, I highly recommend "What We Know About Zombies?" by Meg Belviso, with terrific art by Andrew Thomson. It's the perfect way to pass on your love of reading and love of horror to your kids, students, nieces, and/or nephews.

[Alex]

I actually learned a lot from this book, but I can’t figure out why they didn’t talk about “The Walking Dead” at all?!

[Della]

Kids book about zombie history & lore. Going to keep more salt on hand, just in case.

[Elexndra]

Another great book in this series! Library borrow