The Beasts of Knobbly Bottom: Attack of the Vampire Sheep
by Emily-Jane Clark, illustrated by Jeff Crowther
Interest age: 9 to 11
Reading age: 8+
Published by Scholastic, 2023
About this book
Nine-year-old Maggie is adamant that she’s not moving from the bustling city of Leicester to Knobbly Bottom, a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, but Mum won’t listen to reason. Maggie is outraged, especially as Mum has blatantly lied about the virtues of the countryside: the air is not cleaner, it stinks of poo; it is definitely not peaceful, with cows, birds and combine harvesters making a hullaballoo day and night; and it is absolutely not safer than the city, as Maggie quickly discovers when she encounters a flock of talking vampire sheep, with sharp yellow fangs and glowing red eyes, who are determined to take over the world.
Maggie is a small but mighty hero and, together with her little sister Lily and next-door neighbour Fred, she uses every means at her disposal to defeat the monstrous sheep, from garlic baguettes to frozen steak (realising too late that she should have used stakes).
With a fast-paced plot, off-the-wall humour and dynamic black-and-white illustrations, this hilarious chapter book, is the first in a fabulously funny series that is perfect for junior readers. Look out for book two, Rise of the Zombie Pigs.
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