Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

Which Team are you on? Zombies or Unicorns?
I am most fervently on Team Zombie. Though I have to say, many of the stories I liked best in Zombies vs Unicorns are unicorn stories. The book is a fantastic collaboration amongst popular YA writers who had a ton of fun writing the stories. I like that Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier prefaced each story with a discussion (though I would have liked to see stories by those two as well) and I could easily see they were enjoying the task of editing these phenomenal stories.
Some of my favorite unicorn stories are Naomi Novik's "Purity Test", the tale of a unicorn out to find a human to help save unicorns, and neither the human nor the unicorn are what one would expect; "The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn" by Diana Peterfreund, which asks what if unicorns were really dangerous, something which Peterfreund addresses in her novels Rampant and Ascendant (neither of which I've read); Kathleen Duey's dark "The Third Virgin" tells the tale of a different kind of unicorn; and probably my favorite, Meg Cabot's "Princess Prettypants", in which a sixteen year old girl does not get the car she's pining for.
On the zombie side of things, Alaya Dawn Johnson's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is excellent, told from the point of view of the partially cured, lovelorn zombie; on the other side is Cassandra Clare's "Cold Hands", telling a love story from the point of view of the human in the human-zombie relationship; Scott Westerfeld's "Inoculata", about what the cure for zombies might be; Maureen Johnson's humorous "The Children of the Revolution", which you just have to read because trying to explain it, it sounds crazy; and the chilling "Prom Night" by Libba Bray, sharing what happens when it's the adults that become zombies and how the kids take control (but still manage to have a prom).
All of the stories are excellent (to be expected from such wonderful writers) and I love that the book is set up with alternating zombie and unicorn stories. Also that there's handy little zombie and unicorns pictures at the top of the page so you can skip the unicorn stories or the zombie stories, but I would suggest not skipping stories. Zombies vs. Unicorns is a entertaining, funny, chilling, amazing read. Also, I totally want a poster of the cover (showing the battle of zombies vs. unicorns). Although I love the unicorn stories as much as I love the zombie stories, when it comes down to it, it's still zombies that will bring about the end of the world ....

I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb

At first I thought this book was brilliant.
Then I read a little more and was concerned I should not be finding this as funny as I was.
Then I reserved judgment until I was a little further and the pages flew by.
Final analysis: Brilliant.
Oliver Watson is a seventh grader in Omaha, Nebraska. He's a genius and the third richest person in the world, but very few people know that because 1) children can't run or own multi-national corporations because legally they are insignificant and 2) Oliver is playing stupid so no one suspects him of being a the third richest person in the world. Lionel Sheldrake (the man that everyone thinks is the third richest person in the world) is one of the few people that actually knows that Oliver is the evil genius behind Sheldrake Industries.
So Oliver gets by in school, barely working, pretending to fail, all in an attempt to keep himself above suspicion. He's happy to work this way and then a wrench is thrown into his plan: Tatiana, one of his classmates, nominates him to be class president. Not wanting to show off what a genius he is, Oliver declines.
Only to find out it's something his father would respect him for, having been class president himself in high school. Not that Oliver wants his father's respect. Oliver and his father have a bit of a contentious relationship--his dad thinks he's the idiot he pretends to be because Oliver knows it drives his father crazy. Oliver decides to make a mockery of school elections, something his father holds dear, by getting elected president. So he tries to get on the ballot by speaking to the Principal, but has to call in The Motivator, who then gets a toy from an African dictator that the Principal wants in order to be on the ballot. An uprising occurs in Africa and Oliver becomes the world's fourth richest person.
Oliver is now on the ballot, huzzah! Now to get the two other people running off the ballot. Which The Motivator comes in handy for as well. But Oliver's father doesn't think winning unopposed is what school elections are about. So now Oliver has to get someone ELSE on the ballot, but someone who Oliver can easily win against.
And because he is an genius of unspeakable evil, it happens. And then there's an actual campaign plan and Sheldrake wonders why Oliver is trying so hard to impress a man who doesn't appear to care about Oliver (his dad) and then things go off course .... But it all works out. In a way.
I was totally into this book until I reached the point when Oliver descended into his hidden cave beneath his house to attend to business matters with Sheldrake. Oh, and the school toilet filled with Milk Duds. Then I was beginning to think that perhaps Oliver has a very vivid imagination and is not really an evil genius. But when I began to worry less about Oliver's sanity and went along with the story for the sake of the story, I was into it and totally enjoyed it. Even at the end, I don't know if all of this happened outside of Oliver's head or if it's all in his mind. Which makes it probably the most brilliant aspect of the book because his family and classmates all treat him the way he's wants to be treated--like an idiot.
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President is funny and fast paced and Oliver is endearing, even though he claims to be a genius of unspeakable evil. Good times.