'How would you survive if you were shipwrecked with a bunch of drama divas? Frank and his drama club are off on a dream trip to perform The Tempest. But it soon turns into a nightmare when their ferry is shipwrecked in a terrible storm.
'Half the actors wash up on a desert island. But where are the rest of the cast ? Why is there strange music coming from the forest? And could there really be a monster on the loose? Frank hasn't got a clue how they're going to get out of this mess, but one thing's for sure - they've been tripwrecked!'
This is the first Ross Montgomery book that I've read, but I can see why he's written so many kids books, and why he's such a beloved author, as Tripwrecked was a lot of fun.
The story follows Frank and several of his classmates as they set out on a school trip to Italy for a Shakespeare festival, where they'll be performing The Tempest in front of the assembled festival-goers. Unfortunately, their plans fall apart pretty quickly when their ferry, which has barely left Dover, ends up in a storm and begins to sink.
Climbing into the lifeboats, the students and their teacher are rocked around in the storm, and they even end up losing Mr Fortune as he's swept overboard by a wave. The rest of the students find themselves getting washed up on a tropical island, but seem to have lost half the group. Several of the students try to make plans to survive, with Frank and fellow quiet student Rianna putting forward some good ideas, but being overshadowed by the louder kids; who all seem to be arguing over who gets to be in charge.
Whilst trying to make shelter and find help the students begin to hear strange music coming out of the forest around them, and one of the students claims to have seen a huge monster. This is when Frank and Rianna realise that things seem strangely like their play, and begin to wonder if something strange might be going on.
When I first started Tripwrecked I thought it was just going to be a story about a group of kids getting stranded on an island and trying to survive, and whilst that is a big part of the story, the real highlight of the book is the way that Ross Montgomery seems to mess with both the characters and the readers. By bringing in strange and unusual things, by making the story strangely mirror the events of The Tempest the story has a whole new dynamic to play with.
Instead of just trying to find shelter, or searching for supplies the kids start to worry about their being a strange monster in the forest, and if it's even possible for them to find a way home. In some respects the book feels a little like Lord of the Flies thanks to the bickering and fights for leadership, with a dash of Lost thrown into the mix thanks to the mysteries and monster roaming the woods. And all of this is done in a way that incorporates Shakespeare. It's a fun and unusual little mix, but one that I think a lot of young readers will enjoy; especially if they're starting to learn about Shakespeare in school.
What really helped the book too is that it's not afraid to be a bit silly, to throw some jokes into the mix and make the reader laugh. There's a moment towards the end of the book where Frank and Rianna come back to camp to find one of the kids tied up, part of his Shakespeare costume shoved in his mouth as a gag, ready to be sacrificed to the monster by the new leader. It's a bit scary in a way, the kids turning on each other so viciously, but what makes this moment so great is how upon seeing this Rianna turns to Frank and says 'How on earth did they do this so quickly? We've only been gone ten minutes.'
It's a silly joke, but it instantly made a rather dark moment into genuine comedy, and even made me laugh out loud whilst reading the book. And this is far from the only time the book will do something like this. Montgomery knows when to deploy the humour, and does it to help sell the more unbelievable parts of the story, and to keep the tone from going too dark.
As well as being well written, the book also has some great illustrations from Mark Beech. The artwork is wonderful, and it instantly made me think of the art in Roald Dahl books by Quentin Blake thanks to it's exaggerated and almost messy style. It wasn't until I'd been looking at the book for a bit before I realised I'd definitely seen the work before, on my own bookshelves. Beech has illustrated books for Terry Pratchett (which I have), as well as authors such as Enid Blyton, and Jo Nesbo. It's the kind of art that lends itself perfectly to children's fiction; especially children's fiction that is unusual, and deals with themes of the extraordinary. The art and story blend together wonderfully.
Tripwrecked is a fantastic little story that was a genuine pleasure to read, one that had a lot of fun with telling its story. Seeing a tease in the back of the book for Ross' next Shakespeare inspired story book I can't wait to see what comes next.
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