Last week we received some books from Oxford University Press and included in our little parcel was Warrior Monkeys and the Volcano Adventure. My son picked it up and read it cover to cover. For me that is the magic sign that he likes a book – when he just sits and reads until it is finished. And when he was finished he went and looked in the box to see if there was another one (they are publishing a follow up towards the end of the year).

I was very interested so I asked what it was about the book that he liked. His response “Well, there are monkeys and armoured bears that do Kung-Fu, oh and the good guys win and they stop a volcano from exploding. Mom are you sure the next book is not out yet. Have you searched on Amazon, did you type in Warrior Monkeys?”  Yip that is my son talk for – this book was a HIT.

It is a sweet adventure story of two friends – Suki and Bekko who are trainee warrior monkeys. They basically go on an adventure and save the island from being blown up. But what I really liked about this book was how the author effortlessly wove a few interesting concepts into the adventure plot. Ideas like friends are people who think about how their actions affect you. Really a powerful concept for kids to think about it. And how being brave is actually when you are scared to do something but you still try. Also not to give up when something does not go right the first time, perseverance, when you get scared try and calm yourself down oh and a number of other great life-lessons / life-concepts.

I like books like this. Interesting characters that engage my son but also stories that teach positive lessons.  Because let’s be honest learning some important concepts from cool warrior monkeys is just fun.

Oh a practical note – the author has written it in a style that makes for easy reading but she has also managed to include some good challenging words.

And they have printed it in clear, easy to read font (my son recently got frustrated with a different book where the font was just too arty and really not easy to read). The illustrations included are also excellent – we loved the armoured bears (kind of reminded up of the armoured rhinos in Kung-Fu Panda).

My son and I think this is a fun read for ages 7+. There is nothing scary and the characters are sweet and entertaining. We recommend this book.

We were given our copy of the book.  But you can also buy it online here Warrior Monkeys and the Volcano Adventure

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