My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish 06 – Jurassic Carp

Mo O'Hara's Jurassic Carp is the sixth My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish book, a very silly school-trip adventure for 7 year olds with a knight who might not be human.

What happens

Tom and Pradeep, his best mate, are off to Castlerock Castle for a medieval day. Their class has to dress as peasants. Tom thinks this is the best costume ever, because you're SUPPOSED to be muddy.

He's also smuggled Frankie along in a flagon.

Frankie is Tom's big fat zombie goldfish. He came back to life after a zap from a battery, he'll eat anything green and slimy, and when his eyes swirl green he can hypnotise people. He's also a very good shot with a pebble.

The day goes wrong fast. Mark, Tom's big brother and a full-time evil scientist, turns up dressed as a Lord. Pradeep's evil computer genius brother Sanj is there too, dressed as a wizard (with a wand he keeps fiddling with). Then a knight in black armour nobody has heard of wins the archery by splitting another arrow clean in two. And Frankie's eyes go zombie green.

Tom tells the story himself and he's great company. There's a Top Five list of reasons being a peasant is brilliant. There's a jester who adds "eth" to everything (taketh, maketh, parketh your cart yonder). Poor Frankie ends up down a medieval toilet, in the moat and then in a knight's goblet!

The knight in question is Sebastian, a teenager on his first tournament who calls himself the Knight-Mare because Sebastian doesn't sound scary. He's so kind that you really want things to go right for him.

The jokes come thick and fast, and a lot of them are gross. Pradeep gets travel sick all the way there. Mrs Richards has very strong feelings about washing hands. It's the kind of book a reader will want to read bits of out loud to you. Are you ready for that?

It's book six, but the story fills you in quickly on who Frankie is and why he and Mark are sworn enemies. So a reader can jump in here without feeling lost.

What to read next

If they want to see where it all began, the very first My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish book is in the library. It has Mark's chemistry set, his first experiment on a pet shop goldfish and Tom's desperate idea with a battery.