Sand Monkeys

Blurb

Sand Monkeys is a young adult novel by the Australian writer Joanne Horniman, who is known for novels centering on realistic depictions of people in unusual relationships. It was published in 1992 by Omnibus Books. The author's work on the novel was assisted by a writer's grant from the Australia Council. It received a Notable Book designation by the Children's Book Council of Australia.
Sand Monkeys follows a period in the life a sixteen-year-old boy named Max, upon moving into a new household in Petersham, an inner suburb of Sydney Australia. The narrative is framed by a series of letters which Max writes to his friend Socrates, in which Max describes his feelings about the events in the story.
Like Joanne Horniman's other works, The Serpentine Belt and Loving Athena, Sand Monkeys features the theme of the search for a lost parent, as well as the forging of strong bonds between characters who are not related by blood.
In common with Joanne Horniman's other books, Sand Monkeys concerns people's interaction with the natural world - in this case, with the trees that Max raises and plants. She writes that this is "…not in the usual adventurous sense but in a more spiritual way.