Read Undead Pets 5 – Rise of the Zombie Rabbit free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Sam Hay's Rise of the Zombie Rabbit is a funny, fast ghost story for 6 year olds about a very bossy bunny with a deadline.
Joe and his best friend Matt are halfway through their magic act at the school talent show when the lights flicker. Out of the top hat shoots a white rabbit. Not the cuddly toy they packed. A real one, with glowing green eyes.
Her name is Fluffy, and she's an undead pet. She has twenty-four hours to save her owner Olivia, and only Joe can see her. Poor Joe (he's got a crowd of people watching him).
Olivia borrowed her big sister's gold locket and lost it in the long grass of the back garden. The sister wants it for a dance tomorrow night. Fluffy saw exactly where it fell, and she's not taking no for an answer.
Who knew a rabbit could be so pushy? She wrecks the talent show, leaves droppings all over Joe's bedroom and counts down the hours out loud. When she really wants to make a point, she wees on him!
Joe's first night-time search goes badly wrong, because the family next door turn out to have a police officer for a dad. By the morning Joe is grounded, and the clock is still ticking.
It's a book that zips along. The chapters are short, the jokes are silly and there's a proper race-against-time feel. Joe is easy to root for too. He grumbles a LOT, but he never quite manages to walk away.
Fluffy was killed by a fox, and she looks it. Her white fur is flecked with blood, there are chunks missing from her ears and she has a long stitched-up scar down her tummy.
That's all described early and quite matter-of-factly, and it's played for laughs. Most young readers who like a bit of gross will love it. A child who gets upset about animals being hurt might want to give this one a miss.
It's the fifth Undead Pets book, but each one works on its own. Keep an eye out for a bright green feather at the very end, because it leads straight into Flight of the Pummeled Parakeet, where Joe's next visitor is a parakeet with a scar and a lot to say.
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