Pearly and Pig and the Island of Secrets by Sue Whiting

Title: Pearly and Pig and the Island of Secrets

Author: Sue Whiting

Genre: Adventure

Publisher: Walker Books

Published: 6^th March 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 208

Price: $15.99

Synopsis: Third instalment of the fast-paced middle-grade adventure series, following Adventurologist Pearly Woe!

Pearly Woe is a worrier.
On remote Mammút Island off the coast of Iceland, Pearly’s worrying is put to the ultimate test when she and Pig are winched from a helicopter onto the island to complete a five-day survival challenge – alone.
But they are not alone. And that is not the only surprise in store for Pearly and Pig as Mammút Island reveals its many secrets.

~*~

Adventurologist Pearly Woe is back – and this time, she’s off to Mammút Island with Pig for a five-day survival challenge – alone. They’re headed to Amma’s island off the coast of Iceland.  But when they arrive, Pearly and Pig discover they are not alone – a family called the de Klerks, who are up to something that Pearly and Pig sense is not quite right. So, they set about investigating, and get to know one of the children Caspar. There’s more to the island than meets the eye, though. And only Pearly and Pig can find out.

Join Pearly and Pig on their new adventure as they explore a remote island off the coast of Iceland – somewhere that is filled with wonder and danger, the land of fire and ice, volcanoes and secrets. So, this is where the story begins, and we get into our adventure. Pearly’s worries are ever-present again as she faces camping and surviving alone for five days, mapping the island, and working out what it takes to become an Adventurologist, whilst working out how to help people who need help, and find out what unsavoury people are up to. Of course, Pearly also has many things she worries about – and she’s worried about what Dr Maud and her children are doing to Amma’s island, and the threat of volcanoes that could erupt at any time – a danger that Amma has reassured Pearly will not erupt.

And yet, something has to happen. A mystery and a threat, and a story about what the de Klerks are really doing there that doesn’t add up – stories like theirs never do. But Pearly has to work with what she has been told and heard – and this is the only way she can find out what is going on, and get through her survival challenge. As the story goes on, Pearly discovers she has more bravery than she thought, and learns to make friends and trust people other than her family.

The third novel in the series is just as good as the first two, expanding on Pearly’s world and travels across the world with her family and alone, finding out about new countries and new cultures that will make her into an Adventurologist like the rest of her family, and I have been following this series since the beginning. Each book has something new to discover, and I love the ways that Pearly faces all her challenges, as the feelings she has during her adventures are relatable – the worries, the fears, the uneasiness of the unknown. It shows that everyone has worries and fears, however old we are and whatever we do, and that these universal experiences are ones that can unite us, and allow us to connect with people we may never have thought we would get along with. New people who seems in direct opposition to everything we believe in. Yet, as the novel shows, there are a multitude of ways to exist and become friends – and it is sometimes these unlikely allies and friends that will be the people who can help us the most. Another great Pearly and Pig book!