104. The Slice (Lightning Strikes Series) by Rose Quilter

The Slice Lightning Strikesby Rose Quilter

Published April 2012 Walker Books

From the publisher:

Marco s stomach rumbles. He remembers the cold piece of pizza leftover from last night. But Andy and Joey are starving too. They all hold on to the pizza box. It s decided that the last person holding the box, gets the slice. They’ve got nothing else to do this summer.

Here we have another funny fast read from the Lightning Strikes series.

As it says in the blurb, Marco is hungry, and with only one piece of pizza left, he and his friends set themselves a challenge.  Each person puts one hand on the pizza box and the last person holding the box, gets the pizza.  That might not seem like such a challenge, especially as when it started they were sitting in Marco’s lounge room.  Things start to get tricky when Nonna gets involved.

Marco’s Nonna lives with his family.  She is old and doesn’t speak much English, and at times she doesn’t remember where she is and thinks she is back in her village in Italy.  The only thing Marco has to do while he is home on holidays is to watch out for Nonna, and in all of the excitement over the pizza challenge, Nonna has decided to go for a walk.

This is where the chaos (and the laughs) begin.  The boys, still holding the pizza box start racing around town,  trying to figure out where Nonna might have gone, they think they see her getting onto a bus, and they jump on after her…only to find that it’s not the right Nonna! The

From the bus, to the hair salon, to the market and finally to the ferry these boys face everything that stands in their way including Big Hairy Guy!  You have to give these boys credit, as no matter where their day takes them, they do not let go of the box...until they have no choice.  But what happens to the last slice of pizza?

Who will like this book: Boys age 10+

Read it if you like: Andy Griffiths