Beady Bold and the Yum-Yams

Emily Rodda

Lucinda Gifford

Allen & Unwin, 2020

176pp., pbk., RRP $A14.99

9781760529864

Monty lives on a perfect island in the middle of a magical sea. Sometimes the sea throws up something interesting … and Monty goes on an amazing adventure!

Everyone loves Bring-and-Buy Day, when Trader Jolly visits the Island with all the supplies Monty and his friends need.

But this Bring-and-Buy day is different. Instead of Trader Jolly, there’s a sneaky new trader called Beady Bold. And he’s arrived with a boatload of trouble. As well as pretending he has taken over from Trader Joe, he treats them with contempt, trying to give them less for their goods than they are worth  The yum-yams are yummy, but they’re not what they seem and soon the island and the islanders are in trouble.  All seems lost until Monty comes up with a daring plan after he sees something through his trusty spyglass…

This is the second in this series for newly independent readers and it promises to cement the series as a firm favourite for those looking for a modern piece of escapism with just the right amount of magic.  The first, Scary Mary and the Stripe Spell  was published in April as people were confined to their homes and since I posted it to Miss 9 she has been asking for the next one.  When I asked her why this series, she said that it’s because she likes how smart and brave Monty is but of all of them –  Tawny the Fearless Lion, Clink the Shipwrecked Parrot, Bunchy the Elephant Magician, Sir Wise  the  owl,  she really likes Marigold who runs the island café the best.  (Her daddy is a chef so perhaps she has visions of being Marigold one day.) She says she likes the way they are still friends even though sometimes they make each other cranky and how they all work together to sort out big problems when they have to – a timely message for us adults, perhaps. 

A prolific author, Emily Rodda is perhaps best known for her ground-breaking Deltora Quest series and I would certainly have these dusted off when readers come looking for more, as they wait till January for the third in this series.