Reviewed by Rosie Malezer for Readers' Favorite

Jay-Jay and his Island Adventure is a children’s book written by Sue Wickstead and illustrated by Jon Mitchell. Jay-Jay is a double-decker, Supersonic Playbus, which travels from town to town and is greeted by many excited children, each of whom cannot wait to play with the toys and read the many exciting books on board. After being invited to visit an island, Jay-Jay becomes very anxious and nervous, never having travelled over water before. After a brief ferry ride, Jay-Jay is greeted by children who live on the island, and who are more excited than normal, due to never having seen a bus before, let alone a double-decker bus! After a full week of fun, play and excitement, the children go home and Jay-Jay departs for the ferry ride home.

From beginning to end, Jay-Jay and his Island Adventure is filled with excitement and thrills, keeping even the most anxious minds enthralled by such a tale. Sue Wickstead has written a wonderfully imaginative story of a real-life bus, which travels around the United Kingdom, bringing fun and adventure everywhere it goes. The emotion which is felt by Jay-Jay, leading up to his initial journey on a ferry, is typical of many young children – and even adults – who have never travelled over water before. Although highly anxious, Jay-Jay is relieved to have survived the scary water adventure, before thrilling a whole new audience with the fun that he offers on board. I very much enjoyed the story, as well as the illustrations provided, and believe that Jay-Jay and his Island Adventure would be well received by young audiences, whether or not they have travelled via ferry before, as it shows that most fears are imagined, but are replaced by fond memories when the journey is over.