Beach Party Surf MonkeySeries: Welcome to Wonderland #2
Beach Party Surf Monkey by Chris Grabenstein
Illustrated by: Brooke Allen320 pages – ages 8+Published by: Random House Books for Young Readers on May 23, 2017
Synopsis – “There’s always something wacky happening when you live at a motel, and P. T. Wilkie has grown up at the world’s wackiest one yet! When word gets out that the hottest teen idols in Hollywood will be filming their next movie-BEACH PARTY SURF MONKEY-right in St. Pete’s Beach, P.T. and Gloria know that Wonderland would be the PERFECT location.
Now they just have to convince the producers! But when things start to go wrong (Crazed fans? Missing stars?!) it will take all of Gloria’s business genius and P.T.’s wild stories to save the movie before the movie AND the Wonderland are both all washed up!”
Beach Party Surf Monkey by Chris Grabenstein – Our Review
What I Thought- I didn’t know what to expect with this. I love Mr. Grabenstein’s books, but I hate starting a book in the middle of a series – I am reading the second book before the first. Grabenstein brings the reader up to speed that in the best way I’ve ever seen!
P.T. is known for his wild stories, so he is introduced by telling a tall tale about the previous book, giving major plot points, but not ruining the entire climax. Genius! From there, I just kept liking the book more and more.
I am getting my hands on the first book asap! The story did take a little bit to reveal the plot, but I was so immersed in the details and Grabenstein’s masterful story-telling, I didn’t even notice! Once the plot is revealed, the reader is totally hooked into the story!
The characters don’t want their hotel to falter (and a bit of fame would be nice!), so they are trying to have the movie at their motel. But then everything goes wrong. It’s awesome. Grabenstein has a cool way of writing scenes that are completely wacky, yet still believable – it’s wonderful reading the book!
One of the things I liked were the black-and-white illustrations, some with word bubbles like a comic. They added a lot of humor to the story. Brooke Allen has a great way of combining cartoon with realism. I loved this book, and want to see more from this series!
I give this book five out of five bookworms!
CHRIS GRABENSTEIN is the author of the New York Times bestselling The Island of Dr. Libris, Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, which was nominated for over 30 state awards lists!
Follower him on Twitter at @CGrabenstein, and visit him online at chrisgrabenstein.com.