Grandpa Zombie

By Jaco Jacobs

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan South Africa Children's Books
• Release date: Mar 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781776250073

Jaco Jacobs

Jaco Jacobs is the author of more than 260 books and more than a million copies of his books have been sold. His work has been awarded 46 times. His books have been translated into English, Dutch, Italian and Portuguese. He has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal twice and two of his books have been adapted to film. Jaco lives in Bloemfontein with his wife, Elize, their daughters, Mia and Emma, three dogs, a cat and a pet python.

Book preview

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Pan Macmillan Children’s Books

www.panmacmillan.co.za

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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.

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.

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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*.

•  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.

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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.

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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.

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Sitting on the couch, watching travel shows with his grandpa, while his classmates were exploring the world in aeroplanes and boats and