Book of Elements: Life and Undead

Book of Elements: Life and Undead
Author:	Barry Hutchison
Publisher:	Sunbird Books (United Kingdom) Grosset & Dunlap (United States)
Release Date:	June 6, 2013 (United Kingdom) February 20, 2014 (United States)
Pages:	80
Category:	Reading Book
Based on:	Skylanders (franchise)

Book of Elements: Life and Undead is the third installment in the Book of Elements series. In this book narrated by Flynn and Hugo in turns, the reader is taught everything they need to know about the Life and Undead Elements and all the things connected to them.

Summary

Discover the hidden secrets of Life and Undead: two of the vital Elements that make up the incredible world of the Skylanders. Featuring stories, trivia and bags of information on Skylands heroes including Tree Rex, Fright Rider, Stealth Elf and Cynder.

Contents

Flynn’s Fables

Did You Do the Didgeridoo?

While exploring one day, Zook runs into the Evil Witch Minion terrorizing a group of Molekin. He prepared to fire at her with his bazooka, but found that he had not brought any ammo with him. Luckily, Zook recalled that Hex absolutely loathed his didgeridoo playing, and played so loudly that the Evil Witch Minion fled in horror at his music. With the Evil Witch Minion gone, the story ends with Zook taking the Molekin back to Hex so she could undo the spells cast on them by the Evil Witch Minion.

Food Fright!

Ghost Roaster is offered a chance to become a celebrity chef, and decides to attend the audition for it, with Camo offering to help him. Not suspecting any ill intent, Ghost Roaster agrees and Camo supplies him with many of his specially-grown fruits and vegetables for the audition… But unfortunately for Ghost Roaster, it turned out to be a prank. The fruits and vegetables Ghost Roaster is supplied with keep exploding, but Ghost Roaster manages to persevere until a chili pepper explosion sets off a chain reaction that coats the audition room and Ghost Roaster in food mush. Needless to say, Ghost Roaster did not pass the audition.

Dropping In on the Trollverines

One day, Stump Smash decides to accompany Flynn on a balloon ride, but the balloon ends up crashing right into the heart of a pack of Trollverines. The sight of the Trollverines sends Stump Smash into a rage, and he begins mauling the trolls—but, even with his strength, he’s still heavily outnumbered. Flynn runs off in fear (though he claims to have been creating a diversion) and calls for help, only to run back into Stump Smash, as he had been running in circles the entire time. In the time Flynn had taken to flee, Stump Smash had beaten the entire pack of Trollverines. Ever since then, Stump Smash has always asked to accompany Flynn on a balloon ride at least once a week, presumably of hopes of crashing into more trolls.

Ninja Training Has Its Uses

Hugo calls all the Skylanders and their allies into a meeting one day, but his meeting turns out to just be a false pretense to trap them inside and show off a slide show of rock formations around Whirlpool Falls. While the others are all bored out of their minds, Stealth Elf watches the whole show intently… But as it turned out, the Stealth Elf inside was just a double she had created so she could slip out after she saw Hugo bring out his projector and realized what was happening.

Dinner for Two

To celebrate the first-year anniversary of when Cali first put him in a headlock, Flynn decides to take her out to dinner. As cooking isn’t really his forte, he asks Ghost Roaster to supply the meal. However, things go awry when the main course begins crawling away, and it goes from bad to worse when Ghost Roaster supplies the cheesecake Flynn had asked him to bake, except he had misheard the instructions and thought Flynn wanted a cake with knees in it, or a “knees-cake.” Despite the disaster of a dinner, Flynn at least enjoyed the knees-cake (though it was a bit knobby in parts) and ended up falling asleep after eating the entire thing, after which Cali put him in another headlock.

Putting a Smile on Hex’s Face

A couple of the Skylanders band together to try and make Hex smile, though their efforts start off rough. Camo’s attempt to make her laugh by blowing up a melon in her face just gets him trapped in one of her bone fortresses, she was not impressed whatsoever by Zap using his lightning bolts to put her name in the skies, and even Slam Bam juggling snowballs, Stump Smash playing the drums, and Hugo wearing silly glasses (that he protests are actually his normal glasses) did nothing. As all efforts seemed lost, however, Trigger Happy “accidentally” shoots a coin at Slam Bam’s rear as he was bending over to pick up his snowballs, and the resulting expression of pain from Slam Bam sends Hex bursting into laughter, something everybody sees except for Trigger Happy who was too busy running away.

A Bone to Pick With Chop Chop

Thinking it would be funny, Hot Dog decides to steal Chop Chop’s limbs while he’s sleeping and bury them. However, when Chop Chop wakes up, Hot Dog had forgotten where he buried them, leaving Master Eon and the other residents of the Ruins to dig up Eon’s garden in hopes of finding the rest of Chop Chop. While the other heroes are preoccupied with the excavation, a group of trolls come by, and with the others too distracted, it falls to Chop Chop to stop the trolls. With only his head to fight with, Chop Chop begins headbutting the trolls relentlessly until the others are finally alerted by the sound of screaming and arrive just as the trolls flee. With the trolls gone, Hot Dog finally remembers that he had buried Chop Chop’s limbs behind a hedge, and Chop Chop is reassembled at last.

Topsy-Turvy Jousting

The story takes place during Fright Rider’s first-ever jousting competition. Fright Rider had managed to secure a place in the finals, and both steed and rider are ecstatic—however, just before the final match, an opponent drops a spear on Fright’s foot and injures it. Fright is too injured to walk, and the duo is nearly disqualified if not for Rider getting the idea of them swapping places, with Fright wielding the spear while Rider did the jousting. Despite their weaknesses in those areas, they were able to win their first jousting tournament.

Hugo’s Notes

Forest Bestiary - Hugo tells the readers about some of the various Life Element creatures in Skylands.

The Dark Dragoness – Hugo tells the tale of Cynder’s background as Malefor’s servant, and imparts some wisdom about Malefor himself.

Others

Where Does Life Come From?/Where Does Undead Come From? - Summaries of the Life and Undead Elements’ history. Both sections cover the basic history of both elements, and in addition the Life Element section covers the trolls’ work in harming the environment and Tree Rex’s origin story, while the Undead Element section covers the dos and don’ts of visiting the Underworld as well as how to know if your home is haunted and what to do about different kinds of ghosts you may encounter.

Life Skylanders/Undead Skylanders – Character profiles for the Life and Undead Skylanders from Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders: Giants. Each character’s profile lists some basic facts about them, a fun fact about said character, and their elemental ranking.

Secrets of the Elements – Hugo discusses the secrets of the Life and Undead Elements. The Life Element sections covers the various Life Element beasts, the Tree of Life and how Skylanders aligned with the Life Element mimic the natural world, while the Undead Element section covers Undead Elemental Gates, Arkeyan usage of Undead magic, and evil doubles of the Undead Element Skylanders.

Cali’s Heroic Challenges – Flynn talks about several of Cali’s Heroic Challenges for Skylanders of the Life and Undead Elements, and in particular discusses the Heroic Challenges Minefield Mishap, S.A.B.R.I.N.A., Zombie Dance Party and Delivery Day.

Elemental Gates: Life Locations/Undead Locations – Hugo discusses where to find the various Life and Undead Elemental Gates in Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, with each location also ranked by how hard it is to access it.

The Ancient Art of Stealth – Stealth Elf imparts some of her mentor’s wisdom to readers looking to master the art of stealth.

Camo’s Gardening Tips – Camo shares some of his personal tips for gardening, as well as some of his favorite gardening-themed pranks.

T-Bone’s Gruesome Gags – T-Bone shares some of his favorite Undead Element rib-ticklers with the reader.

Ghost Roaster’s Dead Good Meals – Ghost Roaster shares some of his personal favorite recipes.

Life/Undead: Elements Unite – Hugo explains how the Life and Undead elements intersect with the other elements of Skylands and their elemental weaknesses.

The middle of the book also contains a two-page spread showcasing all Life and Undead Skylanders from Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders: Giants.