Attack of the Volcano Monkeys

by Wiley Miller

In this irresistible adventure, Basil comes face-to-face with evil von Rottweil on mysterious Monkey Island--where monkeys have human intelligence. Again Basil must face his fears to save the world.

Basil Pepperell thinks he's ordinary, but when he and his friend Louise ride her pet pteranodon, Beatrice, to forbidden Monkey Island, they discover an advanced society of monkeys bred to have human intelligence. This is the work of evil Euric von Rottweil, who is planning to use his monkeys to further his plan of "Peace Through World Domination." Stunning full-color illustrations on every page make this a wild, exciting page-turner.

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy

128 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2008

About the author

I began my career in art illustrating educational films. But my interest was always in print and cartooning, so in 1977 I moved from film in Southern California to work as a staff artist and editorial cartoonist for the Greensboro Daily News and the Greensboro Record (they were the morning and evening papers at the time and have since merged into one).

In 1979 I moved on to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Ca.), as doing the staff art for one paper instead of two gave me more time to do editorial cartoons.

My editorial cartoons then went into syndication with Copley News Service in 1980.

Unfortunately, I was laid off in the recession of 1981, which, fortunately, led me to create my first comic strip, "Fenton", which was syndicated by Field Syndicate. It had moderate success, but my love was still with editorial cartooning.

When the position came open at the San Francisco Examiner in 1984, I went for it and somehow got it. I enjoyed a good run there until the recession of 1991 hit in the wake of the Gulf War.

Learning from my previous experience with recessions and the lack of job security for anyone in art, I decided to make my way out before the ax fell and created Non Sequitur, which went into syndication with the Washington Post Writers Group in 1992. It was met with immediate success, but it's growth with a small syndicate was limited.

When I reached that limit, I moved over to Universal Press Syndicate in 2000, where the strip now appears in 800 papers world wide.

Now, of course, I taken a new turn in my career, taking a story I did in the Sunday editions in 2005 called "Ordinary Basil" and made it into my first children's book with Blue Sky Press (a Scholastic imprint).

The second book in the series, "Attack of the Volcano Monkeys", came out a year later, with a third book now in the works.

Reviews

[LordSlaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attack Of The Volcano Monkeys is an amusing and entertaining story garnished with some whimsical illustrations. The tale may be a bit convoluted and dense, but it's fun nonetheless; you've got monkeys (natch) and giant owls, a mad scientist, a submarine, all kinds of cool stuff. Some obstacles that our characters encounter are overcome with an adroit use of scientific principles, which is wonderful. A modestly fun read.

[Rachel Horwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brought this book for my nephew and read it before giving it to him - just to make sure it was good quality. Fun read and wonderful pictures. I guess this book is part of a series so might have been better with the earlier books but fun stand alone book. I think my 8 year old nephew will enjoy this.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5yo daughter was completely in love with this book. Wide eyed and anxious to know what would happen next, at the end she said, "But what happens next, mama?!". It's also a fantastic book for teaching synonyms.

[s]

I read this at the roti prata house at upper thomson road in either 2014 or 2016 and then tried desperately for years to remember the name of the book. today i found out!

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an unexpected find in my local library. Written and illustrated by Wiley "Non Sequitur" Miller, it features the adventures of an 'ordinary' boy with an extra-ordinary girl who comes from a secret hidden society and has a pet Pteranodon. How can this not be fun?

First told partially in flash-back, the story opens with the boy, Basil recovering in his lighthouse home and then rushing off with Professor McGookin in his submarine to rescue the girl, Louise, lost on the incredible Monkey Island.

Earlier, Basil and Louse had gone there seeking adventure and instead found a rebellious group of talking monkeys who want to free their island from their tyrant monkey king. In the process they had to rescue their enemy, the evil Doctor Von Rottweil, who repays Basil by saving him (at the start of the book). Now Basil has returned to rescue Louise and aid the rebellion and stop Von Rottweil from destroying Monkey Island.

Will he succeed? Read the book over an relaxing evening and find out.

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series. This is the second in the series and you really do need to read them in order to understand the storyline. After Basil's first adventure, he and his friend find themselves on Monkey Island. There is a rebellion going on between the monkey tribes and soon the two friends find themselves caught right in the middle. With tons of action and great illustrations, this series is a great one to see if your reluctant reader will be interested.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusingly illustrated by the author, this tells of Basil's incursion onto Monkey Island, with his friend Louise (who knows better). They meet Rathbone, an intelligent monkey who has rebelled against the Monkey King's subservience to the treacherous Von Rottweil. Fortunately, kindly Professor McGookin shows up to help the children save the day. Actually, this reads like the middle chapter in a longer book.

[Suanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kids and I enjoyed this book, although we probably preferred the first book. We were disappointed to learn that there is not another book in the series. Ella kept correcting me when I pronounced the name Basil as Ba zil, and not like the herb.

[Mary Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book-length version of the Non Sequitor comic strip.