Zombies have come a long way over the past couple years, especially for, well, zombies. But nowhere along the way to their ascent of the pop culture monster throne did they ever portray even a flicker of cuteness – until now.

The just-grotesque-enough brainchild of James Olstein, Hey Little Zombie marks the undead darling’s debut in the world of children’s books.

We hit up the Philly-based designer because, come on, who puts zombies in bedtime stories?

There are a lot of cool monsters out there. Why a zombie?
I was always super into monster stories growing up. One year on Thanksgiving, I remember some older cousins watching Day of the Dead, and I wasn’t allowed to watch it, but I did catch on that if you got bitten, you became a zombie.

I thought, “Wow, what an easy way to be a monster.” Anyone can be a zombie.

Your hungry little zombie has a real personality. Where did he come from?
It really just started as a thing to see if I could do it. But as I started drawing this character, he kind of ended up having this persistent, grumpy personality. And so it’s not so much a children’s book about eating brains – it’s a children’s book about being grumpy.

Did you hold back anything for the kids?
I just wrote it for someone in their 20s or 30s. Kids, I don’t know how else to say this, but they’re great b.s. detectors if you try to talk down to them.