Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things (Andy Griffiths, illus Bill Hope, Pan Australia)

Adventures Unlimited is the latest series from middle-fiction superstar Andy Griffiths, with the first instalment, The Land of Lost Things, full of the wacky, exuberant, imaginative shenanigans fans have come to expect from the author of the Treehouse series. This time, Griffiths partners with illustrator Bill Hope, whose work includes comics, look-and-find books, and highly detailed graphic narratives—all styles he uses in the black-and-white illustrations that fill every page of this book. Readers aged 6+ will love being one protagonist—‘You’—who, along with ‘Me’, embarks on an unlikely adventure, travelling by various fantastical modes of transport (try ‘flying-sock-powered adventure bath’) from a treasure cave to the ‘Lost Foot Empawrium’ to the high seas. Filled with odd characters (flying watches, a pirate rabbit, the swashbuckling Johnny Knucklehead, and a bull with anger management issues that he’s committed to working on), the nonstop, action-packed journey encompasses many narrative and graphic styles—with the unusual use of the second-person narrative voice being generally effective. The story includes several stories-within-stories and frequent meta-references to the plot twists and the near-misses of You and Me as they trawl the Land of Lost Things for treasure (and missing personal items). Part chapter book, part graphic novel, all humour and playfulness, the Adventures Unlimited series will delight existing Griffiths devotees, and win new ones.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anica Boulanger-Mashberg is a freelance editor and writer, and a bookseller at the Hobart Bookshop. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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