Monty is a brave and smart young boy. He lives on a small island with his loyal companions Tawny the Fearless Lion, Clink the Shipwrecked Parrot, Bunchy the Elephant Magician, Sir Wise (an owl) and Marigold who runs the island café. They live happily together, relying on each other as small communities often do, recognising each other’s talents and tolerating each other’s weaknesses.
All their supplies come onto the island from Trader Joe and they look forward to his regular visits in his old boat. Trader Joe always gives them a fair price for the items they trade. He also knows the kind of things that he should bring on each trip that will satisfy his customers and he socialises with them at the end of each trip with a beach BBQ. The islanders enjoy his visits very much, especially the dancing and sausages.
In this book, the second in the series by award-winning Australian author Emily Rodda, Monty and his friends are surprised to find a smart new boat in the lagoon with a new trader, Beady Bold. He lies to the islanders and says he has taken over Trader Joe’s business. He tries to trick the islanders into trading their goods for a lower value, he does not have the things they want and he tries to give them substitutes and he refuses to spend any time with the islanders, treating them disrespectfully.
Just as they begin to suspect things are not what they seem, the mysterious yams Beady Bold has foisted upon them start to grow and change. They become ferocious and attack the islanders. Everyone is panicking but Monty spies something through his spyglass and has an idea. Will Monty’s plan save his friends and the island from domination by these ferocious yams? How will the islanders survive without Trader Joe? How can they stop other islanders being exploited by greedy Beady Bold?
Emily Rodda has created a wonderful community of characters in this series. Even though some are not very clever, and Clink is obnoxiously rude, they look after each other and forgive mistakes. There are lessons in this story about friendship, trust and loyalty. We admire Monty’s clear-headed thinking in an emergency. We see co-operation and determination when everyone needs to pull together. There is a generosity of spirit among these characters that sets a fine example, especially in these COVID times when our reliance upon each other to do the right thing is being tested.
Lucinda Gifford’s illustrations are generously placed throughout the book assisting beginning readers with context and imagining the characters and situations. Emily Rodda’s brilliant words provide plenty of opportunity for great read-aloud storytimes by parents, teachers and librarians. There’s plenty of scope for “doing the voices” and changing the pace of delivery in the exciting parts.
Emily Rodda is a very popular author who has won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers six times. Emily is best known for the Deltora Quest series and the Rowan of Rin series which are loved by readers 8+. Emily has written the Monty’s Island series with younger readers in mind and I would recommend this for beginning readers 6+. There is a third book due in January 2021, so readers can look forward to more adventures of Monty and his friends, adding to their collection of Monty’s Island books.
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