Deadtime Stories: Grandpa's Monster Movies

by Cascone, Annette; Cascone, Gina

• ISBN13: 9780765330703
• ISBN10: 0765330709
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-11-13
• Publisher: Starscape

Summary

C.T. and his cousin Lea are staying at their grandparents' old farmhouse. It's Grandpa's seventieth birthday, and everyone's celebrating with a big family reunion. All the weird relatives are here, and all they seem to want to talk about are "the good old days.'C.T. and Lea think "the good old days' are pretty boring - until they find some home movies hidden away in the attic - movies from when their grandfather was just a boy. The home movies give them a piece of family history that the relatives never talked about. It seems that horses, cows, pigs, and chickens aren't the only creatures Grandpa's been taking care of on the farm. C.T. and Lea discover there's a monster among them - and this creature is dying to eat a lot more than the birthday cake!

Author Biography

“Twisted Sisters” ANNETTE and GINA CASCONE have written more than twenty-eight books and the script for two movies, including the successful Deadtime Stories, which are being filmed as a live-action feature series. The sisters live in Central New Jersey.

Table of Contents

“Scary enough to be absorbing, but not so frightening as to produce nightmares, Witching Game also blends humor and suspense to create a seemingly real story with spooky effects. These titles are shivery but fun, quick reads, and the short chapters with cliff-hangers will engage even the most reluctant readers.”—School Library Journal on The Witching Game

“The first in the new DEADTIME STORIES series for kids, which will pair books and movies (the latter in a series of live-action TV films) for kids who enjoy short chapters, cliffhangers, and no overt violence. Parents will appreciate an approach which combines thrills and chills without gore.”
—The Midwest Book Review on Grave Secrets

Excerpts

1
 
 
Catan Thomas was lost—hopelessly lost.
Worse than that, he was being hunted.
He thought he was well hidden. But then, so were his hunters.
They might be anywhere,Catan Thomas thought.They might be just a few feet away right now!
There was no way for him to know. He couldn’t see more than a foot in any direction, because he was deep inside a cornfield, surrounded by stalks that towered high above his head.
It had seemed like the perfect place to hide. But now he wasn’t so sure. Now he felt swallowed up by the field.
The cornstalks stood so close together that Catan Thomas could barely move between them. Still he kept going, hoping that eventually he would make it to safety.
He tried to be quiet. But he couldn’t avoid rustling the leaves of the plants as he passed by them.
He was aware of every sound he made. In a way, that made him feel safe. He figured that ifhecouldn’t move through the cornfield without making noise, neither could anyone else. No one would be able to catch him off guard.
Unless they were sitting quietly, waiting!
That thought stopped Catan Thomas dead in his tracks.
Now what?he thought.
Before he could decide, he heard a sudden rustle and was grabbed from behind.
“Aaaggghhh!” he screamed.
A hand closed over his mouth.
“Shut up,” a voice commanded.
He did as he was told.
“It’s just me, C.T.,” the voice whispered in his ear.
It took him a moment to realize that the voice belonged to his cousin, Lea Rose.
“They almost got me,” she told him as she removed her hand from his mouth.
“How did you get away?” he asked.
“I ran!” she said as if he were stupid. “I don’t know if they followed me, but I don’t think we should stay here. We’ve got to keep moving!”
“Yeah,” C.T. agreed. “But which way?”
Lea Rose shrugged hopelessly.
“This is a nightmare,” C.T. said. “We’re being stalked in a cornfield.”
“By a bunch of hillbillies,” Lea Rose added.
“The worst part is that we’re actually related to those hillbillies.” C.T. groaned.
“They’redistantcousins,” Lea Rose reminded him.
“Not distant enough,” C.T.complained. “I wish I’d never met these people. I’m never coming to another family reunion as long as I live.”
“I know what you mean,” Lea Rose agreed. “I can’t believe we have to spend another two whole days here in Bumbleweed. I don’t know how Grandma and Grandpa can stand to live out here in the middle of nowhere. They don’t even have cable. Who lives without cable?” Lea Rose shook her head in disbelief.
“For real,” C.T. agreed. “And forget about trying to use your cell phone out here. It’s impossible. I can’t believe your mom and my dad grew up on this farm, too.”
Lea’s mom and C.T.’s dad were Grandma and Grandpa’s children. They were thenormalside of the family. The problem was that Grandpa had two brothers—Ernie and Earl—who weren’t very normal at all.
Ernie was the youngest brother. He’d been struck by lightning—sixteen different times. It was amazing that Ernie had even survived. But aside from lightning bolt number two, which left Uncle Ernie with a “hair condition,” and lightning bolt number nine, which gave him a “kick,” Uncle Ernie claimed to be fine. Still, the rest of the family was quite clear on the fact that Uncle Ernie had sixteen holes in his head.
But Uncle Ernie wasn’t nearly as big a problem as Earl, Grandpa’s middle brother, because Uncle Ernie wasn’t married. He lived with Grandma and Grandpa in their gigantic old farmhouse. Andhedidn’t have any kids.
Uncle Earl, the “raving maniac,”wasmarried. He and his wife, Luleen, had lots of kids, and lots of grandchildren—C.T. and Lea’sdistantcousins. Cousins that C.T. and Lea were forced to be nice to.
That was the real problem. Because the cousins were arealscary bunch.
“We don’t have time to stand around talking,” Lea said. “We’ve got to find our way back to the house before those freaks catch up to us.”
She shoved C.T. to get him moving.
But C.T. stood frozen right where he was.
“Listen,” he whispered to Lea.
They heard the rustle of cornstalks.
Someone was headed toward them, but C.T. couldn’t figure out from which direction. They had to know that before they started running. C.T. wanted to make sure they were runningawayfrom the drooling stalkers and not toward them.
Lea pointed to the right.
C.T. listened for another moment and decided she was right. He grabbed her hand and started running to the left.
But as they ran, whoever was chasing them began moving more quickly.
C.T. heard stalks cracking and pulled Lea along even faster. But he knew they weren’t going to get away this time.
Their pursuer was gaining on them with lightning speed.
C.T. looked back over his shoulder.
Less than ten feet behind them, he saw the cornstalks part as they broke and fell.
But nobody was there.
It was as if an invisible force was causing the damage.
“What’s going on?” C.T. cried as he kept running.
The cornstalks behind them continued to snap and fall. Whatever was chasing them was about to overtake them.
It was only about six feet away when C.T. finally saw what was after them. It was like nothing he’d ever seen in his life. And it definitely wasn’t one of his cousins!


 
Copyright © 2012 by Annette Cascone and Gina Cascone