MONKEY

Five hundred years ago, a kid made of stone punched a hole in the sky, ate Heaven's peaches and lost a bet with the Buddha. They dropped a mountain on him for it.

Now Heaven has sent someone to let him out. She is fourteen.

Tess Tang was thrown out of her temple for asking one question too many. She can't fight, fly or do magic. She has a box of papers and a red card with twelve characters on it. Those characters control a thin gold band on the brow of the most dangerous creature in the world. When she reads the card, the band pulls. The Monkey King calls her Boss. He does not mean it kindly.

Their job is to walk to India. The road west runs for thousands of miles, through demons and gods, rivers that eat horses and kingdoms built on lies. With them go a pig-faced former general of Heaven, a silent river giant who will not put down the box, and a dragon prince who has been turned into a horse. Every monster on the road carries a piece of paper. Every paper has the same stamp. The further Tess walks, the more she suspects the trials were never meant to test her at all.

Then she finds the nine wooden tags.

Nine pilgrims walked this road before her. Every tag says Tang. Every tag has a number. Hers would have said ten.

Packed with cliffhangers, sharp humour and moments that will break your heart, Monkey: 81 ways to get expelled from Heaven is a bold retelling of the Chinese classic Journey to the West for readers aged 12 and up. You don't need to know the original story to enjoy it. If you do know it, watch out: some of the old trials are not where you left them.

The stone kid is book one of three. It takes the road as far as the halfway stone and ends with a preview of book two, 81.

Keep the box close. Read everything. Ask.