The Beasts of Knobbly Bottom: Rise of the Zombie Pigs

Emily-Jane Clark's Rise of the Zombie Pigs is a Beasts of Knobbly Bottom adventure for 8 year olds about a village where all the food keeps disappearing.

What happens

It starts with a chocolate cake. Maggie McKay's mum finally says yes to something and puts the biggest cake Maggie has ever seen on the patio table. By the time Maggie and her little sister Lily come back with Fred from next door, it's gone. Guess who gets the blame? (Maggie once ate half of Lily's birthday cake when she was six, and nobody's let her forget it.)

Then the picnic vanishes. Then the shop's hot cross buns, the village vegetable patches, Fred's grandad Mr Tibble's prize courgettes and a whole bake sale.

Maggie tells the story herself and she's a hoot. She's bossy, dramatic and certain she's right about everything, and she talks straight to your reader. There are lists of things her mum won't let her have (a centipede farm, a big sword), Fred's numbered rules of army training, and a chapter that's only there to say sorry for all the poo in the chapter before.

Yes, poo. The best clue turns out to be a mysterious dollop behind Fred's shed, so the children sign up for the village Poo Patrol to hunt for a match. It's disgusting and VERY funny.

The trail leads to the pig farm, where the pigs gobble up green apples, turn green themselves and swell to nearly twice their size. Fred's spatula gets eaten. So does his camera. And then Lily takes a big bite of a pie made from the very same apples.

The scares are silly ones, and the grown-ups are hopeless in the best way. Mum is sure the missing food is down to hungry mice. The grumpy shopkeeper calls himself Gary the Great and Evil Child-Eater (he's actually a vegan).

A reader who likes their spooky stories stuffed with jokes will have a great time here.

This is the second Knobbly Bottom book and Maggie assumes you've read the first, so Attack of the Vampire Sheep is the place to start.

What to read next

Fans of Maggie might also love Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies. Izzy and her friends are certain something sinister is going on with their school dinners, especially once they spot tiny eyes floating in the water jug.