Grandpa Zombie , livre ebook

Pan Macmillan South Africa - Jaco Jacobs

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121 pages

English

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Extrait

Description

Alex’s grandpa has grey hair and false teeth and he loves watching travel shows on television. But then he suddenly develops an interest in … BRAIIINNNSSS!

Grandpa is turning into a zombie and if Alex wants to rescue him before the Zombie Squad shows up, he’ll need to come up with a plan (and heaps of broccoli). Their travels to find a cure takes them across Africa – from Zambia to Egypt – and along the way they meet a range of interesting and wonderful characters.

Top selling children’s books author Jacobs uses his characteristic combination of humour and the compassionate portrayal of relationships between family and friends to create yet another bestseller in the making.

Sujets

Juvenilee Fiction

Family

Informations

Publié par	Pan Macmillan South Africa
Date de parution	16 mars 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776250073
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0450€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Pan Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.za

Chapter 1
Three breathtakingly big lies
This story begins with a small boy and three breathtakingly big lies.
Alexander Sebastian Benjamin Cormington had a very long name, even though he was the shortest boy in his class. Fortunately everyone called him Alex, because if people called him Alexander Sebastian Benjamin Cormington * , this story would’ve been too long to tell.
* Try saying that three times in a row without taking a breath: Alexander Sebastian Benjamin Cormington. Alexander Sebastian Benjamin Cormington. Alexander Sebastian Ben – ugh! See, it feels like you’ve run a marathon!

Alex had mousy hair that refused to lie flat in the morning. He had green eyes and he wore glasses. If you walked past him in a shopping centre, you probably wouldn’t look at him twice.

In fact, most of the children in his class never really looked at him twice either. Alex had been in his new school for almost a year but he had only made two friends – twins called Jamie and Amy. Well, to be honest, Alex and the twins weren’t really best, BEST friends. For example, they had never visited him, nor invited him to their house. But ... • At least they sat together during break sometimes. • They liked it when Alex told them interesting facts – something he was quite good at, thanks to all the TV travel shows that he and his grandpa watched together * .
* Interesting fact: On average, Swiss citizens eat 8 kilograms of chocolate per year.
• And when they had to choose teams during PE, Jamie and Amy sometimes chose Alex, even though he wasn’t any good at soccer or touch rugby.
‘Jamie and Amy, are you done talking? Can we please start the lesson now?’ asked Miss Williams.
Miss Williams liked asking questions like that. The kind of questions that you’re not supposed to answer. And when she asked those kinds of questions she glared at you down her hawk nose, as if to see whether you’d dare answer her.
‘Good, I’m sure you can’t wait to start your orals, can you?’
A couple of children groaned.
Miss Williams’ eyes flashed threateningly.
Alex wasn’t one of the children who groaned. He was too scared of Miss Williams’ angry, squawky voice. So he swallowed his groan. The groan took cover in the pit of his stomach and whispered nervously: Please don’t ask me to speak first!
Alex didn’t like orals. When he had to speak in front of the class his hands started shaking, his throat felt tight and dry, and his voice sounded hoarse and squeaky. But he was especially not looking forward to today’s oral ...
‘Tracey, you wouldn’t mind speaking first, would you?’ asked Miss Williams.
Thank goodness! Alex heaved a sigh of relief.
Tracey got up and walked to the front of the class with a broad smile. She wasn’t shy at all. She flicked her long hair over her one shoulder and started speaking.
‘My fantastic holiday,’ she started, giving the topic of the oral for the day. ‘For the holidays our family went to Cape Town. We took the cable car up Table Mountain, we caught a boat to Robben Island and we went to a Dezi Bell concert. She was IN.CRE.DI.BLE! And guess what – she gave me her autograph!’ Tracey showed her classmates a picture of her posing with the pop star. The class oohed and aahed.

When Tracey finished her oral, all the kids clapped.
Then it was Daniel’s turn. He’d gone to France with his grandparents.
They ate long loaves of French bread, visited art museums and castles, and went to the very top of the Eiffel Tower.
Lesedi had gone camping in the Kruger National Park with her family. She saw the Big Five from up close and a crocodile nearly gobbled up her baby brother. Lesedi sounded rather sad that the crocodile had gone to sleep on an empty stomach.

Mandla had visited his dad in Durban. They went to a cricket match and visited the aquarium, where they watched the sharks being fed.
Emma had visited her aunt’s llama farm and milked a llama. She used a bucket and a balloon to demonstrate to the class how it’s done. She also showed the class the bruise on her arm where the llama bit her. Alex couldn’t help thinking that she’d had it coming.
Amy was next.
‘Jamie and I will do our oral together, Miss, since we did exactly the same things during the holidays,’ she said.
They started speaking before Miss Williams could object.
‘During the holidays we toured all over the country,’ said Amy.
‘On motorbikes,’ added Jamie. He proudly held up a bike helmet for everyone to see. ‘Our mom and dad bought themselves motorbikes, and we rode on the back all the way. Amy and I have our own helmets.’
‘Coooool!’ the other kids sighed.
‘We saw five provinces,’ said Amy.
‘And drove through thirty-three towns,’ boasted Jamie.
Alex, sitting right at the back of the class, was grinding his teeth. It felt as if something was flaring up inside his chest ... He tried to fight it ... He tried very hard to fight it ... But it felt as if green flames were scorching his throat, burning away his breath ...
Alex thought about his holiday.
Every day had been exactly the same. An endless string of grey, boring days spent at home.
Cornflakes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and microwave meals for dinner, while his classmates were feasting on samosas, long loaves of French bread and llama cheese.

Sitting on the couch, watching travel shows with his grandpa, while his classmates were exploring the world in aeroplanes and boats and on motorbikes.
Lying alone on his bed, reading books, while his classmates were at pop concerts and cricket matches.
Alex couldn’t help it.
He was jealous.
‘Alex, are you asleep?’ * asked Miss Williams.
* In the history of dumb questions ‘Are you asleep?’ would win first prize for the Dumbest Question of All in the Whole Entire Universe.

Alex jumped with fright.
‘If it isn’t too much trouble, would you please come and tell us about your holiday?’
Alex got up and shuffled to the front of the classroom.
He swallowed hard. His heart was pounding in his throat while his eyes swept over his classmates. Tracey had met a pop star during the holidays. Daniel had taken a selfie with the Mona Lisa . Lesedi had heard lions roar at night while they were camping. Mandla had seen his favourite cricket team in action. Emma had learnt to milk a llama ... erm ... Okay, wait, he wasn’t really jealous of Emma. Jamie and Amy had explored the country on motorbikes with their mum and dad.
The green flames of jealousy in his chest were burning even brighter.
Alex pushed his glasses up on his nose, took a deep breath and ... slowly breathed out.
‘During the holidays my grandpa and I visited the largest waterfall in the world,’ he said. ‘The Victoria Falls. The people who live there call it “The Smoke that Thunders”.’
His voice sounded surprisingly loud and clear.
His classmates looked impressed. The largest waterfall in the world was even better than the Eiffel Tower or going up Table Mountain in the cable car.
It felt as if the green flames in his chest were burning less brightly.
That spurred Alex on.
‘And afterwards we also went to Egypt,’ he said. ‘We saw mummies and rode on camels ...’
Some of his classmates shuddered. Mummies are much scarier than sharks and crocodiles!
‘No way, are you serious ?’ snorted Mandla. ‘Mummies?’
Alex nodded. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling as shy as he always did. ‘Did you know that the Egyptians mummified cats as well? In one graveyard archaeologists discovered more than a HUNDRED THOUSAND cat mummies!’
Now everyone shuddered.
This gave Alex even more confidence.
‘And we had a ride in a hot-air balloon! It was fantastic! Did you know that the very first passengers to fly in a hot-air balloon were a sheep, a duck and a rooster?’
Everyone looked terribly jealous. A hot-air balloon was even more fun than a boat, an aeroplane or a motorbike.

The only two people who didn’t look completely convinced were Amy and Jamie. They exchanged a suspicious look. Alex felt his face turn red. Maybe they knew that he had just told three BREATHTAKINGLY BIG lies.
‘Well now, wasn’t that interesting,’ said Miss Williams and sounded quite pleased.
Amy and Jamie’s hands flew up at the same time.
Alex swallowed nervously.
Miss Williams raised an eyebrow. ‘Why does it look as if the two of you want to ask something?’
Amy ignored the teacher. ‘Alex,’ she said, ‘I thought you spent the holidays ...’
Sssssh. Grrrrrk. Pffft.
The crackling intercom above the classroom door cut her short.
‘Staff members and learners, attention, please,’ droned a voice. It was the school principal, Mrs Molefe. Her voice sounded strange, as if she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say. ‘Erm ... we received an urgent message that a dangerous ... disease has broken out in the city.’
For a moment there was a hushed silence. Then everyone started talking simultaneously.
‘Will you please be quiet!’ scolded Miss Williams.
The principal continued.

‘A dangerous disease?’ asked Mandla wide-eyed. ‘What can it be?’
‘Maybe it’s head lice!’ said Emma. ‘They had lice at my cousin’s school. Everyone got them. They had to close the school for a week.’
‘Wowwww, I hope it’s lice!’ Amy called out. ‘Lice are SO cool!’
‘Don’t be silly!’ said Jamie. ‘Lice aren’t a dangerous disease . It has to be something else.’
‘Is it really necessary to make such a racket?’ scolded Miss Williams.
But no one took any notice of her because suddenly Mandla exclaimed, ‘ZO