Extrait du livre Alex and the Monsters - Restaurant rescue!
Alex and the monsters - Restaurant Rescue! By Jaume Copons and Liliana Fortuny From Crackboom! Books
Alex and the monsters - Restaurant rescue!
1. A bedroom full of monsters
- Don’t forget! Next week, everyone has to bring a dish you’ve prepared at home. You have all next week to get it ready. Enjoy your vacation! - Yay! I love cooking! (Seriously, how can she be so horrible?) I don’t really care that the teacher has given us such a weird assignment. I have a week of vacation ahead of me and I’m going to spend it all with my friends anyway. Homework doesn’t bother me much. After school, I walk home with Lidia. I don’t really have any choice because we’re neighbors. We’re such close neighbors we even live on the same floor of the building. It really is too bad, because Lidia’s the worst gossip in the whole school. And don’t even get me started about her dad. - Hi, Dad! We have to prepare a dish fit for a chef to take to school. - Perfect! We’ll make the best dish in your class! How about you, champ? What are you going to make? A sandwich? GENUINE HORRIBLE MAN’S APRON
Once I’ve got away from Lidia and her dad, I can finally go back into my place, say hi to my parents and go straight to my room, because that’s where my friends are waiting. They’re a little strange, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. Sometimes they go a little over the top, for sure, but they just can’t help themselves! - Welcome home, Alex! - Want to dance? - Want to sing? - Want to read? I’m training two flies. - I'm training two flies. - But… what… wait… PORTRAIT OF ALEX PAINTED FROM MEMORY IN TWO MINUTES FLAT BY PINTACA.
Before we can play and read, though, we have some work to do! I have to tidy my room. It isn’t easy living with ten monsters! It takes a lot of discipline. And above all, it’s important to keep the place tidy to avoid arousing suspicion. Fortunately, Mr. Flat helps out a little with his organizational skills. - I want it all to be spick-andspan! And the books back in their place! Come on! - But we are still going to read tonight, aren’t we? - Of course we’re going to read! Who do you take me for? - Just be quiet, otherwise I’ll never get my homework done! - Why so slow, Emmo? - Don’t make me mad, Pintaca. - Who ordered an omelet?
- Isn’t it a little strange to be playing with stuffed animals at your age, Alex? - But my room is tidy! My books too! PILE OF STUFF THAT SHOULDN’T REALLY BE HERE BUT WOULDN’T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE. Keeping your room tidy avoids a whole bunch of problems. If your parents come into your room and see everything’s tidy, usually they won’t suspect a thing. But I suppose there are some parents, like mine, who always find something to complain about. These ten monsters and I have been sharing my bedroom for the last three weeks. I think I should explain how I ended up getting to know them. That way, you’ll see why I have every interest in keeping my room tidy. HOW MR. FLAT AND THE MONSTERS CAME TO LIVE IN MY ROOM I used to be just a regular kid, with the regular kind of problems a regular kid has. The usual stuff, like my mom threatening to throw away my toys if I didn’t tidy my room. I had a problem at school too. I needed to hand in my written assignments to the teacher, but I had lost them. One day, I found Mr. Flat at the library and I thought he was a stuffed toy. Emma, the librarian, gave him to me.
Later that day, I started reading a story and Mr. Flat woke up. He wasn’t a stuffed toy after all, he was the book monster! We instantly became friends and read loads of books together. But … … Mr. Flat told me how he and his friends had been chased out of the book they were living in, The Book of Monsters, by a very mean man called Dr. Brut. I decided to help Mr. Flat. The next day, things grew more complicated. My mom, who was tired of nagging me about the mess in my room, got rid of a lot of my toys, and Mr. Flat was one of them. After a few twists and turns and plenty of discussion with Lidia, who had bought Mr. Flat from the toy stall at school where my mom had taken him, I was finally reunited with my new friend.
Back at home, Mr. Flat miraculously found all my written work that I had to hand in to my class teacher. And he made a proposal … He suggested his friends should come live with us. Needless to say, I was happy to accept! Since the monsters moved into my bedroom, we haven’t been bored for a single second. At night, Mr. Flat and I read out loud together while all the others listen to us in awe. We lead a pretty fun and quiet life, but … - Hey, where are Drilox and Krater? - Who? - Who did you say? - What? - Pardon me? As we’re tidying up my room, I realize Drilox and Krater are nowhere to be found. And when I ask where they are, the others pretend they don’t know a thing.
2. Trouble with the neighbors
