Puzzle Island by Paul Adshead

[Rogue-Elfe]

Does anyone have the FULL solution for this book? I have got quite a long way, but am unable to decipher the final code that, it appears, very few people know exist!

[Rogue-Elfe]

Didn't want to put this in the question, just in case anyone wanted to solve for themselves what I already have, which is as follows:
Hidden Animals (locations of these can be found elsewhere on t'internet if required; especially that dratted starling)
1 - Cat, Dog, Cow and Hen 2 - Pig, Ape, Owl and Fox
3 - Lamb, Moth, Crow and Hawk 4 - Lion, Swan, Tuna and Seal

[Rogue-Elfe]

5 - Hare, Frog, Stag and Wolf 6 - Snail, Heron, Crab and Horse
7 - Whale, Stork, Rhino and Robin 8 - Walrus, Mouse, Lizard and Pigeon
9 - Pelican, Dolphin, Lobster and Ostrich 10 - Starling, Lovebird(s), Flamingo
Chipmunk 11 - Dinosaur, Dragonfly. Goldfish and Mynah Bird

Putting the initial letters of each of these creatures into the code at the back gives:
Look Carefully at my diary. In each pencil sketch hidden letters spell words which will form a helpful message.

[Rogue-Elfe]

Now go back through the book, looking at the sketches on each lefthand page to find more hidden words:
Puzzle Island is the home of the world's last female Dodo.
To find out where it should be taken, following instructions at the very back of the book (given in poem form) will lead you to the answer Mauritius; the word being found amongst the letters on the front page.
Now, the puzzle is to try and find the dodo; but you do have all the information.

[Rogue-Elfe]

If you cannot work that part out, you will need to decipher the substitution code under the pictorial one at the back. Helpfully, it gives you the correct place to start (D) but you still need the O - therefore add 11 letter places to each character in the code:
I am hidden on the front cover of the book. If you cannot find me, look in the border for the letters that spell my name. Join the letters that match, from the centre of the square. My eye should be where the two lines cross.
It did tell you that PUZZLE ISLAND holds the bird, in this case quite literally.

[Rogue-Elfe]

The only remaining question appears to be the real name of Ambrose Fogarty; and this is where things get tricksier.
One solution on the internet tells you to look at the very back cover, where the tassels hide the words Paul Adshead (the book author). This, although true, does not explain the other hidden code in the book...

[Rogue-Elfe]

Look at the borders of the eleven scenes in the book. In most cases, these frame the artwork in the middle, but in some tiles, the picture overlaps the edge.
From the top left corner, and going clockwise; these spell:
1 - With 2 - Join 3 - First (this is easiest to spot as it's all on the top row)
4 - Lettesr (We'll let him of on this, since you can't encode 'Letters' properly in this way
5 - JNORATHA (what??) 6 - South 7 - East 8 - AETHE (or simply THE if you allow only the tiles penetrated more than superficially) 9 - The 10 - Cross 11 - Over

This is evidently a jumble, but the implication is to join the first letters of the names of the animals in each page much in the same way as we did for the Dodo on the cover. This time, though, the letters are obviously one per edge, and the North/South line will cross over the East/West line.

Now, in most of the pages, the lines appear to intersect over a letter in the artwork: the treehouse sign, and the lily pond plaque, for example.
On three of the spreads, however, it almost certainly does NOT do this; nor can I get any sense out of the letters I have received, though my lines may be out a bit.
I do not want to graffiti my book with even pencil lines. Could I have assistance here, please, anybody???

[jodder]

Far too complicated for us!! We stopped when we found the Dodo on the front!! Mind you this was when our daughter was 6. You prompted us to get the book out and the inscription in the book is dated Christmas 1990!!

[nightengale]

My sister and I picked up this book after many years. When we got stumped on finding a couple creatures we began to google and found your answers. We decided to follow your thought concerning the border letters which are overlapped by the objects in the picture. We found these words on each page, which match with your findings: With, Join, First, Letters, North+(AJA), South, East, The+(AE), The, Cross, Over. We reassembled the words different ways and attempted many different methods of interpreting them. Ultimately, though, we came to the same conclusion you did.

[nightengale]

That conclusion was to use the first letter of the animal's name hidden on each side of any given page and connect it to the corresponding letter opposite it. Like you said, on most pages the intersection point designated a letter, but on some it didn't. We got this sequence: O, A, W, blank, L, G, blank, blank, E, D, E. This combination of letters made little sense.

However, we did find the word EAGLE within the letters, which seemed the only promising idea yet. That left the letters OWD (and three blanks). We noticed that if the D were an L it could spell EAGLE and OWL. The page the D came from (the Lily Pond), does have an L nearby, although I still think the intersecting point is more clearly over the D. Anyway, this is the only solution we found, and I am inclined to think it might be what Adshead intended, for these 4 reasons:

1) Adshead likes birds, a lot
2) There is actually an owl called an Eagle Owl
3) One of Adshead's next books is called the Odd Old Owl and features an owl which might vaguely resemble an eagle owl.
4) There were too many obviously devised clues present for there to be no answer (unless Adshead gave up halfway through creating a puzzle or else has a dark sense of humor, which I doubt), and since I can't find anything else (and I don't want to go crazy looking!), the Eagle Owl answer seems satisfactory.

So, my belief is that Adshead went to all that work to let us know that the Eagle Owl exists and is pretty cool. Plus, it's other name is the Bubo Bubo, which is kinda similar to Dodo. Anyway, thanks for getting us to think. It was an interesting exercise, and I haven't found anyone else on the internet who discovered as much as you did.

[BooRintoule]

if you mean the poem at the end you need to use the front cover to find the letter. for example the first part of the poem "look at the end of my pet cats tail, the fourth is above the sixth is below" that mean out of the nine letters the fourth is above the cats tail on the front cover the sixth is below. those letters are r and t.

[BooRintoule]

one the official puzzle island website Paul actualy admits that the tassle's on the back page is the answer sorry to tell you, but looks like that effort was not for much but to have been right the first time