Granny's Little Monsters [sample]

For Sunshine Boy Sol!

First published in 2021 in Great Britain by Barrington Stoke Ltd 18 Walker Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7LP www.barringtonstoke.co.uk Text © 2021 Karen McCombie Illustrations © 2021 Lee Cosgrove The moral right of Karen McCombie and Lee Cosgrove to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in any part in any form without the written permission of the publisher A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library upon request ISBN: 978-1-78112-958-6 Printed by Hussar Books, Poland

Contents 1

The funnest of fun!

1

2 Granny Mo’s surprise

7

3 The perfect pet?

14

4 Follow me …

23

5 Thing in the mud!

29

6 The odd blob

34

7 Tiny treasures

39

8 There and then GONE!

45

9 How many monsters?

53

Chapter 1

The funnest of fun!

It was the same every Saturday.

The very best sort of same.

Because Saturday was the day that Zac and his cousin, Essie, got to visit Granny Mo – all by themselves! Almost.

Granny Mo lived a short bus trip away.

And so this Saturday, the same as always, Zac’s mum walked him to the bus stop round

1

the corner from their flat. And, the same as always, Essie’s dad walked her round the corner from their house. Along came the bus and the two cousins got on it together.

“Bye, Mum! Bye, Uncle Matt!” said Zac. “Bye, Dad! Bye, Auntie Tara!” said Essie.

After they had said goodbye, Zac and Essie said hello to the bus driver. And then they argued for the rest of the short trip to visit Granny Mo. First they argued about who got to sit next to the window.

“It’s my turn!” said Zac. “No, you sat beside the window last time!”

Essie grumbled.

Then they argued about who was going to press the button to stop the bus.

2

“It’s my turn!” said Essie.

“No, it’s my turn!” said Zac. He put out his arm and ding‑ding went the button before his cousin could press it first.

The bus slowed down outside a row of shops.

The door opened with a SWOOSH.

3

There was Granny Mo. She waited for them by the bus stop every single Saturday.

“Well, hello, my little monsters!” she said in her happy sing‑song way.

4

“Hi, Granny Mo!” said Zac and Essie. They jumped off the bus with matching big smiles.

Zac and Essie loved their granny from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. They loved her ruby‑red hair, they loved her stripy socks, they loved everything about her. She made everything sunny. She made grumbles pop like bubbles.

“What are we going to do today, Granny Mo?” asked Zac. Granny Mo lived in a flat above the shops.

She put her key in the lock of the bright red door that led up to her flat.

“Wait and see!” she said with a wink at Essie and Zac. Zac and Essie grinned at each other as they ran up the stairs.

5

Things were always fun with Granny Mo. The funnest of fun!

Last week they’d had a picnic at the park and all the food was purple. The week before it had rained and Granny Mo had built an obstacle course in the hallway. It was made out of teetering towers of boxes, wobbly piles of cushions and perfect pyramids of loo roll.

So what was Granny Mo’s plan today?

Hmm …

Maybe it had something to do with the scritchy‑scratchy noise coming from the other side of the door to Granny’s flat?

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