Bumageddon: The Final Pongflict facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Andy Griffiths |
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| Cover artist | Liz Seymour |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Series | Bum trilogy |
| Genre | Comedy novel |
| Published | 1 September 2005 Pan Macmillan Australia |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 228 pp |
| ISBN | 0-330-42197-2 |
| OCLC | 224401485 |
| Preceded by | Zombie Bums from Uranus |
| Followed by | What Bumosaur is That? |
Bumageddon: The Final Pongflict (also known as Butt Wars: The Final Conflict in the U.S.) is the exciting last book in Andy Griffiths' funny Bum trilogy. This series also includes The Day My Bum Went Psycho and Zombie Bums from Uranus. This book tells the story of a brave young boy named Zack. He goes on an amazing adventure to finally defeat the bums forever.
Contents
The Epic Story of Bumageddon
This story picks up right after the last book, Zombie Bums from Uranus. Zack Freeman and his friends are in big trouble. A huge brown blob crushes the chapel they are in. Zack, his own bum, and Eleanor manage to escape. Sadly, their other friends are trapped.
Escaping Danger and Meeting Ned Smelly
As they try to rescue their friends, four giant Great White Bums appear. They try to crush Zack and his group with more brown blobs. But then, another Great White Bum saves them! They think this new bum burns the others.
The group soon finds out they are inside a spaceship. It looks like a Great White Bum, but it's called Robobum. Ned Smelly built and controls it. Ned explains he didn't know about the zombie bum invasion. He was stuck underground in a huge stinkant cave. He was searching for "stinkant juice," a rare fuel for his ship.
Ned found a lot of this juice. He also mapped the cave. There, he discovered three skeletons. They were huddled under a warning written on the wall. One skeleton held a piece of soap. Zack recognized it as his grandmother's soap. She had been sucked into a "brown hole" with other characters.
A Warning from the Past
The warning told future readers something important. The Great White Bum was using the brown hole. It was sending prehistoric bumosaurs to the future. This was all part of a plan to bring about "Bumageddon." This meant the end of the world as they knew it, caused by bums!
The group realizes they can stop Bumageddon. They need to kill the Great White Bum. They plan to use the "arseteroid" that wiped out the bumosaurs. This is a giant space rock that hit Earth long ago.
Time Travel Mishaps and New Friends
Zack and his friends use Robobum to travel back in time. They aim for sixty-five million years ago. But Robobum makes a mistake! They end up six hundred and fifty million years in the past. They land just as the Great White Bum hatches from its egg. Zack tries to kill it, hoping to stop Bumageddon.
The Great White Bum escapes. The group chases it in Robobum. Zack accidentally fixes the time-travel glitch. Robobum then jumps to the correct era. They have to leave Robobum when a "tyrannosore-arse rex" attacks. Robobum stays behind to fight it. After a close call with a "tricerabutt," another bum saves them. This new bum agrees to take them to the "Crack of Doom." This is where they can stop the Great White Bum.
Secrets and Rescues
That night, the tour guide bum shares her sad story. She had a child owner who cared for her. But then, the child abandoned her for no reason. Suddenly, giant stinkants kidnap the group. They are taken to the stinkant nest. Zack and Eleanor find the warning message there. It's freshly written and not finished.
Zack's grandmother, the Pincher, appears! The Flicker and the Forker are with her. They were the ones writing the warning. Robobum arrives and saves the group from a stinkant attack. It teleports them inside. But the three older bum-fighters stay behind. They need to finish the important message.
Bum Fights and Betrayals
Zack's bum and the tour guide bum start arguing. They both claim they kept the group safe. Eleanor stops the fight. She reveals that the tour guide bum is her own bum! Eleanor explains why she got rid of her bum. The Great White Bum killed her mother. Eleanor wanted to become a bum-fighter and get revenge. Her bum gets angry and leaves the ship, even though Eleanor begs it to stay.
Robobum detects the Great White Bum nearby. It says the "Crack of Doom" is at this spot. The group tries to leave, but they are stuck in "bumantula" webs. Eleanor and Ned try to free Robobum. Zack and his bum rescue a creature stuck in the web. It's the Kisser! He was eaten by mutant zombie maggots in the last book. He was then thrown up in the past as blowflies, leaving him in liquid form. Zack believes the Kisser is on their side and saves him.
The group goes back into the ship. A bumantula latches onto Robobum. It almost crushes the ship and its passengers. Robobum tries to fly away. But then, the Great White Bum saves Robobum! The Great White Bum thinks Robobum is a real bum and falls in love.
The Wedding Plan and Final Battle
The group sees an opportunity. They plan to stop Bumageddon by accepting the Great White Bum's marriage proposal. They will paralyze him at their wedding. The wedding is at the Crack of Doom, just hours before the arseteroid hits.
A "bumodactyl" carries Robobum to its nest. Eleanor finds her bum being fed to its chicks! Eleanor and Zack rescue Eleanor's bum. The Great White Bum arrives. But then, they see the Kisser has shot Ned dead! They realize the Kisser is still working with the bums. Eleanor and Zack suck his liquid body into a vacuum cleaner. Eleanor's bum jumped in front of Eleanor to save her from being shot. Zack's bum saves Eleanor's bum. Ned's body is teleported out of Robobum to rest in peace.
The Great White Bum takes Robobum and the group to the wedding. Robobum gets a dress, flowers, and a singing group. But then, Robobum goes rogue! It refuses to buy more time for Eleanor and Zack. Before they can paralyze the Great White Bum, the Kisser escapes the vacuum cleaner. He teleports outside and tells everyone that Robobum is a spaceship.
The Great White Bum shakes out its passengers. It tries to crush them. But Robobum tricks the Great White Bum. It makes the Great White Bum think it has real feelings for him. Robobum sacrifices itself. It pulls the Great White Bum into a hug it can't escape. Robobum shorts out, fusing them together. This stops the Great White Bum from escaping.
The Aftermath and a New Beginning
The arseteroid is about to hit. The Great White Bum announces victory. It reveals that the young Great White Bum Zack chased off Earth earlier was still on Uranus. It would just go into the brown hole and cause Bumageddon anyway. However, Zack's bum admits something. He used Robobum's death ray to kill all life on Uranus. He did this while Zack and Eleanor were saving Eleanor's bum. The Great White Bum accepts defeat and cries as the arseteroid hits the wedding.
For some reason, Zack and Eleanor wake up in a barn. It belongs to Ed Kelly. They return to their homes in Marbletown. They wonder if the arseteroid impact opened a brown hole. This might have sent them into the future they created. They find their old bum-fighter friends have new jobs. Zack's grandfather and Eleanor's mother are alive! They learn Eleanor's father is a whaler. Zack's parents play wind instruments in an orchestra. This was their secret cover when they were bum-fighting.
Eleanor tries to tell their amazing story. But Zack stops her. He says nobody would believe them. They thought bums were no longer smart creatures. But then, they see their bums staring into the sunset, making out! Zack says the adventure isn't over. He thinks it's only just begun.
Awards and Popularity
Bumageddon was a very popular book! It was chosen for two important Australian Children's Choice Awards. These awards are given by the Children's Book Council of Australia:
- The Bilby Award (Queensland) for Younger Readers: It didn't win this one, but another book by Andy Griffiths, Just Crazy!, did.
- The KOALA Award (New South Wales) for Older Readers
According to the author's website, Bumageddon was the most popular Australian children's book in 2005. It sold over 90,000 copies in just seven months! It also reached number 9 on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Books.
