George Ivanoff, Monster Island, Penguin Australia, May 2023, 240 pp., RRP $16.99 )pbk), ISBN 9781761047244
When Bernie’s mum, a zoologist, is offered a job she can’t refuse, Bernie grows suspicious. For one thing, his Mum is being very secretive about the job and who she’ll be working for. For another, Bernie will have to stay with his aunt while his mum is whisked off to a top-secret location. So, Bernie does the only logical thing: he sneaks into the limousine that is sent to pick her up. The limousine is loaded onto a boat and Bernie suddenly becomes a teenage stowaway. The boat is headed to a research centre on a secret island hidden by mists in the Bass Strait Triangle: Secreta Insula (Secret Island).
What is on the island, nicknamed Monster Island, is beyond Bernie’s imagination. He is determined to prove that he should be allowed to stay in this wondrous place. But when he encounters a hostile drone, he and his new friend, Ivy, decide to investigate and are subsequently pulled into one dangerous situation after another. Since Ivy’s father—the centre’s founder—and the other scientists don’t believe them, it falls on Bernie, Ivy, and their clever dinosaur friend Lea-Lea to figure out what’s going on and ensure the survival of the island’s strange and mysterious secrets.
This is a fun, fast-paced story that hooks the reader in from the very first page and is chock full of fun references, humour, and mystery.
George Ivanoff is the author of the You Choose series, the Survival Guide series and the Other Worlds series, so Monster Island’s cast of dinosaurs, cryptids, and scientists and the non-stop action come as no surprise. References to Jurassic Park and fabled creatures like the drop bear add comic relief, but in Bernie, readers will find a relatable, nerdy, science-obsessed teen bent on protecting his Mum, who seems a little shell-shocked at her new position.
At first glance, the book looks to be pitched at younger children but is more suitable to older children and advanced readers—that difficult-to-engage tween readership. It is a fabulous book to hook reluctant readers and offers a springboard for many fun topics to explore including cryptozoology, fables, dinosaurs, the Bass Strait and Bermuda Triangles, mycology, technology, and the ethics of science. A handy reference at the back of the book provides more information on some of these topics and perhaps will inspire readers to move onto some of George’s other books.
Dubbed as Jurassic Park meets Stranger Things, Monster Island is a thrilling sci-fi romp.
Teacher notes are available on the Penguin website.
Reviewed by Pamela Ueckerman
