The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil: Attack of the Volcano Monkeys

by: Wiley Miller

Published by: Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic

Reviewed by Patty Inglish, MS

“Peace Through World Domination!” The comics parrot many a dictator and well-intentioned freedom fighter, while making us laugh. That is the joy of Attack of the Volcano Monkeys.

Wiley Miller’s “Non Sequitur” is one of my favorite comics as it segues from mundane to otherworldly each weekend in the Sunday comics. There, Lucille, Beatrice Pterosaur, and Basil Pepperell have adventures–and I want to tag along. Their worlds make sense as they mirror portions of our own. They come closest to the 1960s political Pogo that I can find. Besides, I enjoy Maine accents and lighthouses.
In these monkeyshines, Basil returns home from his last crusade to leave immediately on another. He must save little Louise from forbidden Monkey Island, which is not an island l, but a ship that some government has disguised as an island with which to control its indigenous monkey nations. HG Wells, Tarzan, and Star Trek would like a word with that government.

Professor McGookin and his magic round submarine help Louise, Basil, and his resistance fighter monkey-friend Rathbone (Basil…Rathbone, a Holmesian nod) to defeat a dictator and restore liberty to intelligent monkeys. Evil Doctor Von Rottweil (vicious like the dog), by turns, saves Basil’s life and is imprisoned by the moneys he has experimented on, but escapes to “evil-ize” something else in the future. This is “HMS Pinafore” meets “The Producers” in “Springtime for Hitler in Germany.” It makes me laugh while I think, but is a rollicking good time.

Additional animals play major parts in this story. Bug-eyed owls hunt children and monkeys, but are swept from the sky by Beatrice Pterosaur. Illustrations of this and other events swim around and behind the text to comprise a jaunty nautical reading experience.

In the end, children are smart, democratic revolution can overthrow dictatorship and false idols, and we are not monkeys to be tricked. Moral character lives in the heroes and even its villains. Basil upholds freedom and honor, encourages compassion towards all, and provides an extraordinary good time all at once.

Armchair Interviews says: Readers of all ages will enjoy Attack of the Volcano Monkeys.