Lost on Gibbon Island

Think back to your childhood. If you had to enjoy a jungle adventure story, what would you have liked the book to include?😍 A fast-paced and thrilling storyline?😍 A map?😍 A courageous protagonist?😍 Animals? Cute ones as well as wild and creepy ones?😍 Lots of adventures: some funny, some scary?😍 Survival techniques covering the quest for food, water, shelter, fire?😍 Some villains?😍 Some action sequences?This book includes all these ingredients from traditional survival stories. To ensure that it fits perfectly into the contemporary experience, the book also covers:👏 Plastic pollution in the oceans.👏 Animal poaching and the importance of animal conservation.👏 The bravery of environmental activists.👏 Fun facts about gibbons.👏 The importance of giving someone a second chance.👏 The impact on the mind after a traumatic experience.Lark makes for a wonderful main character. (Hurrah for a girl being the lead in a jungle adventure!) Her sincerity in maintaining her diary entries and her determination to use whatever she learnt in school to survive comes out well. Her bond with Goldie is the icing on the cake.As the story is framed in the form of Lark penning her thoughts in the notebook, every page is designed like a notebook, with a pattern of various jungle fronds and other leaves bordering the page. It is delightful! The story sticks to the ‘diary entry’ format right till the end, making the whole experience feel genuine.This does not mean that the book is flawless. Things are sometimes too convenient and sometimes too farfetched. But as this is middle-grade fiction, the exaggerated events are perfectly acceptable.This is my first book by Jess Butterworth, and I would love to explore more of her works for my kids. (And for me!)Definitely recommended to all middle-graders who would love to read an entertaining survival story set in the jungle.🚩 Don’t miss reading the author’s note at the end!4.25 stars.Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.

This book was bought for an 8 year old advanced reader. She couldn’t put it down and really enjoyed it. Not a challenging read but very exciting for adventure and animal fans.

It's a nice read and a fun story, quite exciting in parts. It is written entirely as a diary piece, which helps you connect with the character but brings with it its own set of challenges. For example, the main character is called Lark, which is mentioned in the beginning but then she gets marooned on an island with only a non-verbal gibbon for company, so the next time her name was mentioned it was about 200 pages later and my kids said "Lark? Who's Lark?"The story is clearly written from an ecological standpoint and imparts its message very successfully throughout the pages without sounding at all preachy. I did have to contextualise the issue of plastic in the ocean - my kids initially thought it was great that so many plastic bottles had washed up on the shore for Lark to use to help her survive.I think this uncertainty as to whether or not Lark would survive or not is a real strength of the book. I won't say whether or not she does, but the constant threat of starvation and dehydration is nonetheless very thought-provoking and my children were talking about what they would do if they were ever stranded like Lark.While it is nicely presented with an illustrative frame around each page, my kids did miss regular illustrations. The map at the beginning is a bit of a spoiler too. Hard to criticise really, because it is at its most relevant at the start of the book, but because it is a story of exploration, mapping out all the places Lark will encounter perhaps dampens that feeling of "What will she find next?"It's a compelling story and was a fun bedtime read for a couple of weeks. If you're reading it to a child, anything from age 7-8 upwards would be fine, but if your child is reading it themselves perhaps add a couple of years to that. My daughters (9 and 11) really enjoyed it though.

My 8-year-old and I were pleasantly surprised by Lost on Gibbon Island. Despite my initial worries that the book might be too advanced, it turned out to be an easy read that my child thoroughly enjoyed. The story revolves around a girl named Lark and her bond with a baby gibbon named Goldie after they become stranded on an island together. The heartwarming relationship between Lark and Goldie was a joy to read about.What made the book even more special was the message about animal rights and the environment (plastics, etc.) that was beautifully woven into the storyline. It's a great way to encourage children to care about animals and their welfare. I would definitely recommend this book for children aged between 8 and 10, as it's a perfect mix of engaging story and meaningful messages.

This is an adventure story, set in the rain forests of Cambodia. The protagonist is 12-year-old Lark, who finds herself ship-wrecked with no one but a baby gibbon for company.Lark has to overcome many dangers and dilemmas before she can find her way home. There are storms, jelly-fish infested waters and the problem of finding something to eat, to name a few!It's an engaging read which my Year 5 class will love. I highly recommend it for upper KS2 age children, or more able younger readers.

Such a great adventure story that will sweep you and your youngster away on a great adventure with Lark and baby gibbon Goldie. Such a beautifully flowing book that captures the imagination while also giving important messages about animal rights and environmental issues. A nice story and I'll certainly be looking for more from Jess Butterworth.