Rishi and the King

Mark Miller has built something genuinely odd and endearing here: a gorilla king who rules a hidden green kingdom called Gorillia, sings his own little jingle ("I am a gorilla. My name is Montamahilla… I live on top of a hill-a"), and forges a mystical connection with a boy named Rishi through a glowing green staff at a parade in Wellington. That's a strange combination of ingredients — royal fantasy, a real-world Indian-New Zealand family, and an African safari travelogue — and the book doesn't try to smooth the seams between them. It just goes for it, and that unlikely mash-up is exactly what will hook a young reader who's bored of the usual talking-animal or fairy-tale template.

The world-building leans on that same willingness to mix registers: a diplomatic hospital call about the King's lung infection sits right next to a red-carpet welcome with a band playing his silly banana song, which sits next to crocodiles stalking birds and a baby elephant Rishi gets to touch. Kids who love safari animals will find real specificity here — the baboon that isn't "approachable," the flamingo caught mid-flight through a borrowed camera, the giraffes that are "so tall." These are small, concrete, kid-eye observations, not generic animal-book filler.

The prose itself is plain and functional — closer to captions for the (AI-assisted) illustrations than a fully worked narrative voice — but the premise carries real charm and a clear hook: a magical staff, a royal invitation, and a family adventure that a young reader will want to follow to the next book in the series.