The Monkey Goes Bananas

PreS-Gr 4—Kids will jump right into this rip-roaring flip book—paced tale. A monkey, sitting chin-on-fist on a corner of land, eyes an inaccessible bunch of bananas on another piece of land across a strait. Wordlessly, the story begins: the monkey dips his toe to test the water; he cautiously walks in up to his belly (wordless top half panel); he smiles, realizing it is not too deep (wordless bottom half panel). "The monkey. The shark," reads the next spread, with the monkey paralyzed, dumbfounded, face to fin with the shark. "THE SHARK!" is the cry on the subsequent spread, and the monkey is running for his life back to shore, off the left page, in a full close-up. Action is king here, the characters and props named only with labels. The cartoon style is both hilarious and fresh, with smudgy charcoal lines and a soft, painterly touch executed by the heavy use of the digital blurring brush. Juxtaposed with the humor and emotional toll, the monkey's problem-solving processes and perseverance triumph and will inspire kids to think. The plot thickens, and the pace speeds up as obstacles mount and the battle ensues between the shark and the monkey, all told visually with labels. Whereas most children's books end with the protagonist winning, this slapstick ending pushes our comfort level. Don't lose out on the fun of sharing this two-dimensional enactment of the old adage "Necessity is the mother of invention."—Sara Lissa Paulson, The American Sign Language and English Lower School, New York City