The Forest of Hands and Teeth Themes

Lions and tigers and… zombies ? Oh my! Talk about scary. Who wants to live in a place surrounded by flesh-gobbling monsters? Not Shmoop, thankyouverymuch. It's no wonder fear plays a big role in...

Remember Lady and the Tramp? Lady risked herself and her safety to save a defenseless little baby, while Tramp risked his life to help his Lady friend. Now that there's some serious loyalty for you...

Would you rather spend your life bound in an unhappy marriage or trapped in a Cathedral of spooky Sisters? When it comes to freedom versus confinement, it's not always a lock-and-key/ball-and-chain...

"All you need is love," sang the Beatles, "Love is all you need." Or is it? Can love provide an escape from flesh-eating zombies? Can it break traditions that have provided security to a village fo...

Like a truly glorious slice of cake (is it lunchtime yet?), sacrifice comes with multiple layers. There's the personal layer of sacrifice—Mary struggles with what she is willing/not willing to sa...

Rick Riordan got it right in The Sea of Monsters when he wrote, "Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're...

Jelly donut or Boston Crème? T-shirt or tank top? Life is full of plenty of choices that don't have death or a life of misery in the balance, but those aren't the kinds of choices we're talking ab...

Ariel dreamed of legs, Mulan longed for family honor, and Rapunzel yearned for the floating lights. Each of these ladies achieved their dream, but not without some sacrifice—Ariel and E...

Poor Mary—No matter what she chooses, she always seems to end up with the guilty end of the stick. Need some proof? She lets her mom become a zombie, and Jed feeds her a guilty sandwich because n...