Beach Party Surf Monkey
Series: Welcome to Wonderland, Book 2
Written by Chris Grabenstein
Illustrations by Brooke Allen
Random House Children’s Books  5/23/2017
978-0-553-53610-2
312 pages    Ages 8—12

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“Welcome to Wonderland—
Hollywood by the Beach

“There’s always something WACKY happening when you live in a motel, and I, P. T. Wilkie, live in the world’s wackiest motel! And Guess what? The HOTTEST teen idols in Hollywood PLUS YouTube sensation Kevin the Monkey (!!!) are filming their new movie—Beach Party Surf Monkey—right here in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

“My friend Gloria and I know the PERFECT location: THE WONDERLAND! Now we just have to convince the producers.

“But movie magic isn’t as easy as it looks. And when things start to go wrong, it will take all of Gloria’s business genius and my WILD stories to keep the movie AND the Wonderland from wiping out!” [BACK COVERT]

Review
[WC 340]
P.T. Wilkie returns with his friend Gloria Ortega. Both kids live at the Wonderland Motel in St. Pete, Florida. Summer has arrived and all the fun that goes with it. P. T. and Gloria are still riding high over finding the missing gems, all the attention that comes with it, and the nice reward. Thanks to that, the Wonderland Motel still belongs to P. T.’s grandfather . . . for now.

P. T.’s mother seriously considers selling the Wonderland to the new fancy-schmancy hotel so it can expand. She’s thinking Arizona sounds like a good place to retire. P. T. and his grandfather don’t agree—strongly. But the reward money will only keep them solvent for so long. P. T. and Gloria have to come up with a new money-making proposition to keep the Wonderland like keep betting and winning money by knowing how to not be discouraged from losing streaks. Enter Beach Party Surf Monkey.
But first, the kids need to convince the stars or the people making the movie that the Wonderland is the best—the only—place to make the movie. Problem is, they were not invited to pitch their location. How do they get in? I’m not telling how, but the kids win the location and the movie begins shooting at the Wonderland Motel.
From that point on, the hijinks will keep kids reading. Grabenstein hits the mark once more with creative, fully fleshed out characters and the fast-paced action kids love. Add in one capuchin monkey named Kevin, and the visuals jump up a bunch. Even Mr. Frumpkes, the kids’ grumpy teacher, shows up to see Kevin—with his mother. Beach Party Surf Monkey is a fun and fast read you can read it at the beach while you tan or at home while using the sunless spray tanning. The short chapters are perfect for reluctant readers

Beach Party Surf Monkey is book 2 in the series, Welcome to Wonderland. Book 1, Home Sweet Motel, introduces the characters and includes a mystery, which will help the Wonderland if the kids can solve it. Book 2 can stand on its own, but I’d recommend beginning at the beginning, with Book 1. Wherever they start reading, kids will love Welcome to Wonderland.

BEACH PARTY SURF MONKEY (WELCOME TO WONDERLAND, BOOK 2). Text copyright © 2017 by Chris Grabenstein. Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Brooke Allen. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Random House Children’s Books/Penguin Random House LLC, New York, NY.

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Read the first five Chapters

Illustrations from BEACH PARTY SURF MONKEY (WELCOME TO WONDERLAND, BOOK 2) by Chris Grabenstein copyright © 2017 by Brooke Allen. Used with permission from Random House Children’s Books/Penguin Random House LLC.

Copyright © 2017 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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