The Hungry Little Monkey. (Tadpoles). Andy Blackford. Illustrated by Gabriele Antonini. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2011. 24 pp., pbk. & hc., $7.95 (pbk.), $18.36 (RLB.). ISBN 978-0-7787-0592-5 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-0581-9 (RLB). Subject Headings: Monkeys-Juvenile fiction. Animals-Juvenile fiction. Kindergarten-grade 3 / Ages 5-8. Review by Maggie Standish. ***½ /4

excerpt:

Poor Little Monkey is hungry. Follow along as his animal friends suggest different ways to eat a banana, including Parrot telling him to "Peck it!"

The Hungry Little Monkey is written in third person, with a very linear story line. Because the story is written with younger children in mind, keeping the story and characters simple is important. The story keeps to the point of helping friends and allows children to learn new words.

      I recommend this book for a few reasons. Firstly, the illustrations are bright and add to the story. They help emphasize what is occurring in the story while the facial expressions on the characters also allow children to grasp how each character feels. For example, on the first page, Little Monkey is holding his stomach and looking sad which helps children recognize "hungry." The colours and style used in the illustrations work well with the story. Another reason for my positive recommendation is that the author added extras to the book. There is a section with a "Find this page" puzzle for children after they've finished reading this work. There is also a page, before the start of the story, with a list of common words in the book and new words. This addition, to me, will benefit children as they are learning to read.

      There was one reason why I didn't feel The Hungry Little Monkey deserved four stars. I realize it's a book for children, and the sentences should be kept simple for them to understand; however, I also think that ending sentences with prepositions sets up the possibility of poor grammar skills later. The Hungry Little Monkey is a book that can be enjoyed by either gender as children are learning the basics of reading.

Highly Recommended.

Maggie Standish, an MLIS graduate, resides in North Bay, ON.

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