Adventurous Ali: Temple of the Monkey God

Adventurous Ali #1

by Tyler Jolley, Mary Geis

After Alison Liv Isner is sucked into an old globe that sat on her father’s desk, she wakes beside a campfire in a lush jungle, surrounded by five talking animals. She quickly realizes these are the same friends her mom wrote about in her expedition journal. Now, at only eleven-years-old, she has the opportunity to complete her deceased Mother’s unfinished expedition in the Temple of the Monkey God.

With her new found friends, a monkey, a fat rat, a bat, a burro with a piranha in a mason jar tied around his neck, Ali decides to face the treacherous booby traps inside of the temple and save the monkey idol from an evil group called The Geese.

As she learns more about her deceased mom through her adventure journal, Ali and her friends realize the book is the key to lead them through the tunnels of the dreaded Temple of the Monkey God. If not, their lives are at stake and Ali will be trapped in the expedition realm forever.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy

ebook

First published September 10, 2019

About the author

Tyler was born in Vernal, UT. He's an author, orthodontist, periodonist, and farmer. His wife and four kids keep him very busy.

Reviews

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Fast Moving Middle Grade Fantasy, and this is the first book in the Adventurous Ali series. I have to say I really enjoyed this story, and the characters are so much fun. The fantasy parts was not hard to follow, and I really enjoyed the fantasy parts in this book. The only thing I wanted that this book did not give me is that the story was so fast moving that I do not think the characters really had the time to get developed. I wanted to get to know the characters a little more then this short book allow me to. This is a cute short fantasy middle grade. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable start to a series about an intrepid young girl during the Great Depression who inherits her archaeologist mother's sense of adventure as well as her animal companions. It reminded me very much of Lloyd Alexander's wonderful Vesper Holly books, just for a much younger set. I would say this is on the level with the Magic Tree House books.

[☕️Kimberly (Caffeinated Reviewer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun MG adventure. Indiana Jones/Dora the Explore. Full RTC

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun story this is! In some ways it reminds me of Dora the Explorer, only more mature. In other aspects she makes me think of a very young (and female) Indiana Jones. And then of course there’s the animals, we must not forget her animal friends in this book…so yeah, it’s Dora the Explorer goes to Narnia and finds the Temple of Doom.

I joke of course, but this little book is an amalgamation of many wonderfully imaginative components.

As those of you who read my blog know, it isn’t an easy task to draw a five-star rating out of me. Admittedly, I can be a star Grinch but I am so pleased to say this story certainly earned a full five stars. Adventurous Ali: Temple of the Monkey God is fun, it’s creative, it flows well, it has simply loveable characters, and as a parent…it is a story I would have thoroughly enjoyed reading aloud to my own son when he was young.

Ali is a precocious girl who lost her mother mysteriously at a very young age. As a result she is now fascinated with the life and adventures her mother once had. But little does young Ali know that adventures similar to the ones her mother had also lay in store for her. And, one day while mindlessly spinning a globe in her father’s shop while engrossed in her mother’s diary the adventures begin.

This is a short book since it is geared towards young readers so I’m not going to say much about what actually takes place; I don’t want to spoil anything for you. But I will confess that I found myself reading much of this out loud to myself. I completely enjoyed indulging a little guilty pleasure of mine and voiced the characters as I read; entertaining myself as I did so.

The fact that I did that (trust me, you’ll do it too) really says something to me and that is this…even an adult is drawn in to this story. I had just as much fun with it as I believe a young reader would. Oh, that reminds me, this isn’t simply a book for a parent to read to their child…this is the perfect type of book for a young reader to read on their own as well. The vocabulary Mr. Jolley used is ideal for young readers; it’s not too complicated but not too simple either. I found it to be just right to help develop a young reader’s vocabulary.

I encourage you to pick a copy of this for the young reader in your life, or pick it up and read it to youngsters yourself and enjoy the adventures with Ali, Tristan, Bait, Glenda, Figgy and Chicaletta. I promise you will love the ride.

[CR · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing that I fell in love with was the cover!! Even my mom wanted to read this one. I was a little sad when I found out it was only 61 pages. I really wished it would have been longer. The first pages of this story grabbed me. I wanted to keep reading and I finished this one in like an hour or so. This one was very easy to read and follow. I had to ask my mom about a few things but for the most part it was pretty easy. The pacing was very fast as this only had 61 pages I understand that this had to be told pretty quickly. And that was ok. It worked. I really loved the characters and the story. I really loved how Ali reacted about the animals talking to her. This had a great ending and I hope that we get more titles set in this world!

[Susan Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love stories for middle grade readers that have an Indiana Jones feel that garners excitement about adventure and history and exploration for our kiddos. I feel like Adventurous Ali checks all of those boxes. This story is full of twists and turns in exotic locations and is full of kid friendly danger. There were some words that tricked my kids a little bit but it was perfect for challenging moments. Highly recommended.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fun middle school adventure along the lines of Indiana Jones, but with fun animals for companions instead of people. A quick read that will have children imagining adventures of their own. I'd love to read this with illustrations, but I don't know if it's supposed to have illustrations since I read the kindle book. I think this would be a fun book to have in a school or classroom library.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.