Monkey Island (book)

Monkey Island is a 1991 children's novel by Paula Fox. It deals with family breakdown and homelessness.

Plot

11-year-old Clay Garrity's dad, an art director, is out of work; Clay's mother trained for a good job - but it wasn't enough, especially with a baby coming. Unable to cope, Dad disappeared; now, without warning, Clay's distraught mother has also abandoned him, leaving him in an unsavory welfare hotel. When a neighbor suggests calling the police, Clay bolts, afraid that becoming a foster child would mean losing his mother forever. He lands in a park with Buddy, a hard-working young black man who can't earn enough for a rent deposit, and Calvin, a retired teacher who lost everything in a fire. Weeks later, their fragile existence is destroyed by an invasion of raging toughs ("the stump people") who demolish their meager, hard-won amenities and scatter the park's inhabitants. Indirect results include Calvin's death; Clay, weak from malnutrition and exposure, is hospitalized.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews called the novel "an absorbing, profoundly disturbing but ultimately hopeful story." Publishers Weekly said that "Once again Fox displays her remarkable ability to render life as seen by a sensitive child who has bumped up against harsh circumstances."