- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's (7 Oct 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0689836783
- ISBN-13: 978-0689836787
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,796,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Jacqueline Wilson
"I raced through Climbing A Monkey Puzzle Tree with huge enjoyment - parts sent shivers down my spine."
Children's book of the week, The Sunday Times
"Wallace writes this poignant novel with a breezy stylishness that compels you to read on until all its mysteries are solved."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I first came across Karen Wallace in a desperate pre-Christmas search for a present for a teenager two years ago. It was the quirky title (RASPBERRIES ON THE YANGTZE) and glorious black humour of the opening sentence (too good to quote here!) that did the trick. Before wrapping it, I read it, and was bowled over by Wallace's depiction of a bunch of children growing up in backwoods 1960s Quebec. It was funny, sad, real and beautifully imagined. The thirteen-year-old I gave it too read it at a sitting (a small triumph for the power of the printed word over the pap of Boxing Day television), and I wasn't a bit surprised when some time later I saw it had been shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.
Thankfully, the follow up, CLIMBING A MONKEY PUZZLE TREE (Karen Wallace has a knack for great titles) has already sorted out this year's Christmas present problem - but this time it's for everyone on the list: man and boy, mother and daughter. Both books have the same central figure, Nancy Cameron, but you don't have to have read the first to be smitten by the second.
This time Wallance dumps her teenage heroine in the hell of an English boarding school, ruled by the monstrous Matron Blessed, where she only survives by telling stories after lights-out starring the other girls in her dorm,thus winning their friendship. To say more would be to give too much away: dark secrets finally surface. But there's plenty of humour, Elvis has a drive on part, and the whole book roars along at an unputdownable pace. Anyone who went to boarding school will come face to face with ghosts they thought they'd forgotten: anyone who didn't will count themselves blessed. This is a wonderful book. It may be aimed at children, but I'll bet there's many a grown-up who spends Boxing Day turning its pages, the tele forgotten.
Thankfully, the follow up, CLIMBING A MONKEY PUZZLE TREE (Karen Wallace has a knack for great titles) has already sorted out this year's Christmas present problem - but this time it's for everyone on the list: man and boy, mother and daughter. Both books have the same central figure, Nancy Cameron, but you don't have to have read the first to be smitten by the second.
This time Wallance dumps her teenage heroine in the hell of an English boarding school, ruled by the monstrous Matron Blessed, where she only survives by telling stories after lights-out starring the other girls in her dorm,thus winning their friendship. To say more would be to give too much away: dark secrets finally surface. But there's plenty of humour, Elvis has a drive on part, and the whole book roars along at an unputdownable pace. Anyone who went to boarding school will come face to face with ghosts they thought they'd forgotten: anyone who didn't will count themselves blessed. This is a wonderful book. It may be aimed at children, but I'll bet there's many a grown-up who spends Boxing Day turning its pages, the tele forgotten.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Climbing A Monkey Puzzle Tree is a compelling read, which somehow marries childhood's smallest and deepest personal emotions with warmth, wit and poignancy.
It's a story about Nancy who has won a scholarship to Woodmaston House For Girls in England. She's left her native Canada behind and is ready for a new adventure. But not even matter-of-fact, practical, unafraid Nancy is prepared for what will happen.
Harder Hitting than it's brilliant predecessor Raspberries on the Yantzee, the real strength of this book is that even in loveless and austere circumstances there can be laugh out loud humour, and the magic of story telling.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Nancy Cameron is a Canadian girl who loves to write stories to her grandmother. She has no idea what her grandmother does with them but finds out when she receives a letter from a boarding school in England and gets a place there! She is not too sure about what is would be like but when she meets the other girls in her dorm; they are nice apart from one girl - the head of the dorm Sharon Downey. The Nurse, Nurse Blessed, is absolutely horrible and hates Nancy but when she and Sharon are friends, Nurse leaves them alone - how peculiar...
This book is now one of my favourite books. I would rate it 9/ 10 because there is a lot of irrelevance in it.
This book is now one of my favourite books. I would rate it 9/ 10 because there is a lot of irrelevance in it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
WHY MONKEY PUZZLE TREE???
This isn't such a bad read but it is pretty much a childrens' book.
Set in an English boarding school where girls tease each other and have to make up stories about... Read more
Set in an English boarding school where girls tease each other and have to make up stories about... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2009 by S. ROVELLI
sorely disappointed
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the brilliant Raspberries on the Yangtzee, I couldn't wait to read this sequel. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2003 by Luanne
A Must Read
Climbing A Monkey Puzzle Tree is a compelling read, which somehow marries childhood’s smallest and deepest personal emotions with warmth, wit and poignancy. Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2002
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