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Puzzle Island
The reader is asked to find hidden animals in the pictures and identify a mysterious creature believed to be extinct.
24 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 10, 2021
This was one of my absolute favourite books as a kid. The complexity of the search and finds, decoding the message, and eventually finding the dodo! I have so many fond memories of this book working on it with Aunts and Uncles; helping each of my two siblings work through it when they were old enough; and just flipping the pages to look on the pages time and again (even though I knew where everything was).
A truly special puzzle book that holds a little slice of my childhood in it. 💜
A truly special puzzle book that holds a little slice of my childhood in it. 💜
February 5, 2021
This book is incredible; I'm so mad I didn't know about it until last year, when someone was searching for it on a lost-book forum. The story alone is fun -- based on a map in the front, you read pages of a diary written for you that ask you to travel all around this made-up wild island, each full-page illustration showing you a different part of it, filled with cool animals. You could have fun just reading it on a surface level.
But then you start simultaneously looking for animals hidden in the scenery and doing anagrams based on the missing letters in the alphabet bordering each page to confirm what they are/what you're looking for. It's very creative, as the animals are not hidden in a Where's Waldo? way, but more like Bev Doolittle's paintings, where an outline is created by negative space, or branches become antlers.
Some are easy, some are tougher and require turning the book sideways/upside down to make it more obvious, but it's SO satisfying when you try to loosen up your brain's normal way of seeing until one suddenly pops into existence. I looked at the first page for 20 minutes and was convinced I saw an elephant's head, even though the options were all 3 and 4-letter animals, and only the next day did I look again from a different angle and realize OH, THAT'S the 4th animal I couldn't find before!
And then you have even more picture-searching and code-solving to do at the end to get the final answer. I was genuinely thrown for a loop when I got to the last page and realized there were Basically, there are hidden clues and pictures everywhere and in everything.
TL;DR, I am a full grown adult but I launched into this book o' puzzles with such enthusiasm that I spent a few hours working through all the things to find, some of which are genuinely tough (I WAS an animal-obsessed child who read nonfiction constantly, and I still think I might have struggled to figure out at a younger age). Still, it's a solid challenge for a clever kid, and definitely not a book you grow out of. It's also one you can return to again and again, given that I keep picking this book up days later to admire all the pictures and try to re-find the animals I've already forgotten about.
But then you start simultaneously looking for animals hidden in the scenery and doing anagrams based on the missing letters in the alphabet bordering each page to confirm what they are/what you're looking for. It's very creative, as the animals are not hidden in a Where's Waldo? way, but more like Bev Doolittle's paintings, where an outline is created by negative space, or branches become antlers.
Some are easy, some are tougher and require turning the book sideways/upside down to make it more obvious, but it's SO satisfying when you try to loosen up your brain's normal way of seeing until one suddenly pops into existence. I looked at the first page for 20 minutes and was convinced I saw an elephant's head, even though the options were all 3 and 4-letter animals, and only the next day did I look again from a different angle and realize OH, THAT'S the 4th animal I couldn't find before!
And then you have even more picture-searching and code-solving to do at the end to get the final answer. I was genuinely thrown for a loop when I got to the last page and realized there were Basically, there are hidden clues and pictures everywhere and in everything.
TL;DR, I am a full grown adult but I launched into this book o' puzzles with such enthusiasm that I spent a few hours working through all the things to find, some of which are genuinely tough (I WAS an animal-obsessed child who read nonfiction constantly, and I still think I might have struggled to figure out at a younger age). Still, it's a solid challenge for a clever kid, and definitely not a book you grow out of. It's also one you can return to again and again, given that I keep picking this book up days later to admire all the pictures and try to re-find the animals I've already forgotten about.
January 20, 2014
My daughter loved Graham Base's books The Eleventh Hour and Enigma, so I went looking for other similar puzzle/mystery books to do with her. This one was perfect to solve with her. She is 6 but is a strong reader and knows a good deal about animals. The puzzles are very straightforward throughout this book. The author tells the reader what she has to do, so there is no confusion or uncertainty about the task, as there often is in books by Base (like The Jewel Fish of Karnak). This made it easier for my daughter to persist in solving the puzzles. The puzzles all involved looking for animals in the pictures and rearranging given letters to find the animals' names. The final puzzles were also clear with helpful clues given to decode them and find the answers.
Highly recommend for younger kids who enjoy these sorts of puzzle books and for animal lovers!
Highly recommend for younger kids who enjoy these sorts of puzzle books and for animal lovers!
December 1, 2025
Absolutely adored this book growing up, reading it and doing the puzzles many times with my sister. Now revisiting it with my partner, the puzzles were still fun, especially with someone else, but also work just as well solo. Some may prefer finding the hidden images of animals in the pictures, while others may prefer the word scrambles and ciphers and you can still work together towards the goal. Highly recommend for anyone with kids who love animals or puzzles, and any adult in the mood for whimsy.
November 29, 2017
My 6 year old son and I have loved reading this book at bedtime every night. We read for 15 minutes every night and some nights it has taken a full 15 minutes to find creatures hiding on one page! Both the writing and the illustrations are wonderfully crafted and creative! I think this is one that will become a family favorite.
August 9, 2020
This book never failed to entertain me as a child/teen. I always felt like I was going on an adventure, and since I was a child and couldn't easily find the "secrets", I was able to spend lots of time with it. It's been well over a decade since I've read it, but I'll never forget it.
January 25, 2021
Wonderful book. I had not only solved it but also drew some of the pictures.
This book is a great source for mind exercise. The beautiful pictures in the book are mesmerising.
One of my favourites are; garden of statues, cave of dreams and lily pond 😍
This book is a great source for mind exercise. The beautiful pictures in the book are mesmerising.
One of my favourites are; garden of statues, cave of dreams and lily pond 😍
November 8, 2017
A pleasant puzzle book in which you have to find animal shapes in the pictures after deciphering the animals you're looking for from an anagram. Some nice descriptive writing.
February 8, 2018
The drawings in this book still shape my ideal imaginary spaces.
March 24, 2020
Revisited this puzzle masterpiece from my childhood while self isolating during COVID-19. Beautifully illustrated and truly intricate puzzles.
June 3, 2022
I didn't have time to solve them all but it seems like fun
October 21, 2024
This is the best puzzle book I've ever read - I've been chasing the high of solving this book since I read it in second grade.
January 18, 2025
This is possibly the most important book of my childhood.
January 24, 2025
I loved this book as a kid, and it is now one of my son’s favorite books. The way the drawings of animals are hidden in the pictures on each page is unique and amazing. I love this book.
March 2, 2025
Amaaaxing puzzle book! Loved working through it
November 20, 2025
One of the best Christmas gifts I’ve received as a kid. It was a fun challenge that my family even joined in on solving. I’ll never forget how exciting it was to solve the final mystery!
January 10, 2022
One of my favourite books from childhood! This kept me engaged. I remember being so tempted to cheat and look up the answers in the back. Many hours were spent solving the mysteries, and years later embarking on it again. Great for strengthening the mind through geography, problem-solving, wordplay, and zoology. It ignites the imagination through art and mystery. The concept has some similarities to Animalia as well as The Eleventh Hour, but really, it's in a unique field all its own. I can't speak more highly about a book featuring puzzles.
January 8, 2010
Paul S. Adshead, Puzzle Island (Discovery Toys, 1990)
I'll start off my review saying I know a little something about puzzle books, but I know nothing about the way kids respond to them. My wife and I have a Where's Waldo knockoff book we keep in the car, and my daughter gets absorbed in it every time she gets in the back seat. This has been going on for six years, and my daughter is now fourteen. So anything I say about age-appropriateness or lack of interest in repeated readings would be silly. It is entirely possible that buying one copy of this book for your pre-teen will keep them happy well beyond high school. I don't have the data on that yet.
In any case, Puzzle Island is best categorized as an art book, really. Paul Adshead does these lovely paintings in which he hides animals (camouflaged as a tree trunk, or outlined by branches, or what have you), and then tasks his readers to find four of them in each picture. At the end of the book, you put everything together and solve the final mystery. I rated it based on the idea that one time through and you're done, but who knows? The pictures themselves are lovely. ***
I'll start off my review saying I know a little something about puzzle books, but I know nothing about the way kids respond to them. My wife and I have a Where's Waldo knockoff book we keep in the car, and my daughter gets absorbed in it every time she gets in the back seat. This has been going on for six years, and my daughter is now fourteen. So anything I say about age-appropriateness or lack of interest in repeated readings would be silly. It is entirely possible that buying one copy of this book for your pre-teen will keep them happy well beyond high school. I don't have the data on that yet.
In any case, Puzzle Island is best categorized as an art book, really. Paul Adshead does these lovely paintings in which he hides animals (camouflaged as a tree trunk, or outlined by branches, or what have you), and then tasks his readers to find four of them in each picture. At the end of the book, you put everything together and solve the final mystery. I rated it based on the idea that one time through and you're done, but who knows? The pictures themselves are lovely. ***
June 9, 2008
I just re-read/played this book with Hunter. The puzzles (mostly word and I Spy) are clever. And surprisingly challenging (we were never able to find the starling). The writing is awful and almost never helps with finding the animals so after the first page or so, I recommend you just skip the words and look at the pictures.
March 8, 2012
This was a very interesting book, but the puzzles were rather difficult even for us grown-ups. It took us about a week to get through it. The puzzles, especially toward the end were over our children's heads, but I think they still enjoyed it. Very unique. It says it's recommended for 5-12, I would say 5 might be too young.
May 2, 2016
I got this book as a gift when I was 11. I loved figuring out the puzzles as a kid but I never solved it. Recently I made it a mission of mine to try again. This time, as an adult, I made it all the way through. It was such fun to finally solve the final puzzle and find the dodo bird! I might have shrieked in joy. heehee!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2013
Fun puzzle book for older kids or younger kids! I remember having this book and loving the pictures, searching for the hidden clues and such... now it's a fun puzzle book that I can see fourth or fifth graders getting a kick out of! It would be great to have in any classroom for a fun read.
January 16, 2015
This puzzle book kept me entertained for hours when I was a kid, but I never actually solved the final code until recently after finding the book tucked away in an old dusty box. It only took about 25 years and a little help from 'Google' but I feel immensely proud that its finally solved
February 10, 2016
Used to read this at bedtime with my Dad when I was younger, it was my favourite. Now I get to read it all over again with my 8 year old son and he's enjoying it just as much. Great puzzles for kids to solve, and perfect for reading a page or two a night.
June 18, 2011
An enjoyable puzzle with a clever final solution.
December 24, 2011
I loved this book as a kid. I think I got it when I was in upper elementary based on my handwriting in the cover and the fact that it came out in 1990. It was fun but hard.
July 14, 2012
I read this book with my mom when I was a kid. I absolutely LOVED it. Beautiful pictures, great intriguing story....:)
November 23, 2014
Bought this book for my children when they were young, and my adult daughter has revisited it to finish solving it! Very engaging and definitely a community effort to solve.
April 18, 2016
Best picture puzzle/word puzzle book ever. Seriously.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews