Lost on Gibbon Island - Jess Butterworth - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Jess Butterworth

GENRE: Middle-Grade Adventure.
RATING: 4.25 Stars.

In a Nutshell: A thrilling jungle adventure for middle-graders. Covers everything children will enjoy, and then some more!

Story Synopsis:
When twelve-year-old Lark accompanied her mother to Cambodia for a research trip, she never dreamt that she would be stranded on a deserted island with nothing but the clothes on her back and a notebook. All she has for company is a baby gibbon, whom she names Goldie. Lark has no idea how to survive in a tropical jungle. She uses her notebook to pen down her thoughts, her misgivings, and her daily tasks & adventures, hoping that the notebook would one day save her.
The entire story is written in the first person perspective of Lark writing her thoughts in the notebook.


Think back to your childhood. If you were 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 jungle adventures.

🚩 Don’t miss reading the author’s note at the end!

My thanks to Hachette Children's Group and NetGalley for the DRC of “Lost on Gibbon Island”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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