Reviews

The 117-Story Treehouse: Dots, PlotsDaring Escapes! by Andy Griffiths

jwsg's review against another edition

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3.0

Where Terry decides to take over as narrator and creates a story based on magic dots. 4-5 stars if you are a seven year old boy but 1-2 stars for everyone else, I reckon.

Afternote: This seems to be an extended version of Terry’s Dumb Dot Story that was published for World Book Day 2018

fishindices's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

lesyeuxdenini's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

babyleo's review against another edition

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4.0

This review was published on Lost in a Good Book

There are so many things to love in this new Treehouse adventure. One thing I quite enjoyed was Storytelling Gaol and the Story Police who arrest you for lazy storytelling like ending a story with “It was all a dream”. A great practice. Crimes against good and proper storytelling should be openly encouraged. But that isn’t the only fun addition to the treehouse. With 13 new storeys there are fun rooms like the Miniature Pony room, the Waiting Room, the Underpants Museum room, and many more.

The usual charm of the Treehouse series is back: the way Andy addresses the reader/listener, the reoccurring characters like Mr Big Nose and the impossible book deadlines, and Jill is there with her logic and sensible answers, but she is also there have crazy fun with the boys as well.

There is also a clear formula to these stories which surprisingly doesn’t get old. It treats each book like the first book you’ve read of Griffiths and Denton. Even going through the treehouse introduction again is fun because we get to explore the new rooms and see Denton illustrations. Even with the audiobook Wemyss makes this fun because of his fun voices so you can imagine these rooms, much like radio dramas with sound effects and different voices commenting on random aspects and features.

This time around Terry wants to try his hand at narrating because “illustrators can narrate too!” which kick starts the story and also reveals that in the Terry/Andy universe there are similar authors to our world but not quite. There’s Looney Tunes logic, a touch of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the absurdity and strangeness results in a lot of hilarity and you can’t help but laugh.

I love the meta nature of this particular adventure because I feel like Griffiths included some of his own criticisms he’s seen, if not, it is a great self-reflection on some of the plots in this series. All in good faith though and always filled with humour.

I’ve started looking forward to experiencing these books as audios because I adore Wemyss’s narration and I will sacrifice Denton’s illustrations because the story is just as entertaining. While I know Denton does amazing work, the audiobook has done the book justice and the creativity to be able to interpret those drawings into sound is quite wonderful.

traditionson's review against another edition

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3.0

Booktastic, so many different books that were twisted. Dots everywhere, police chases, a door of doom and three authors that really put a different spin on the originals. I found it much harder to get into this book but then again it was a story within a story that didn't work as well. Still the same chaotic goodness.

pussreboots's review against another edition

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5.0

In the utter chaos department, it's the Story Police. They don't like certain clichés. For example, "It was all a dream" is right out. It's a sure fire way of summoning the police.

On the parody front, there are a number of popular children's books and authors. Those are the obvious ones. But my all time favorite one is the long running gag that holds together the entire book. It's Terry's version of The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster (1963).

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comments_02/117_storey_treehouse.html

musicalmelody21's review against another edition

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5.0

It's not possible for me to no love an Andy & Terry treehouse story. Such a big part of my childhood. Had me beaming.
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