Precious and the Monkeys (2010)

I would peg this at 7-9 yr olds, and if reading aloud, 5-8 yr olds.

Very sweet mystery for Precious Ramotswe. Her first as a young child. Something that kids can relate to as well as something that all of McCall Smith books do: teach a simple lesson. Only an hour as an audio book. I would like to see the actual book, as I hear there are some lovely drawings to go with it. I might pick this up for the middle niece for xmas. Or the nephs when they hit about 6. ( )

Cover to Cover December 2012 selection. This was good but not great and probably most of interest to fans of the adult series. Oddly the book and audio did not have exactly the same text and I preferred what was on the audio. ( )

Make sure to read the back of the book, including the recipe for the eponymous cake. (Eponymous is a new word for me and I'm never sure if I'm using it correctly.) Also read the verso (back of the title page), the author's note and the comments here by kayceel about how the book came to be written and how the title can change the meaning of the story for the reader.

SPOILER: While this is a charming book about not gossiping (specifically, not accusing others without sufficient evidence) and being kind to those less popular, I worry about the monkeys. I applaud Precious' insight that it isn't enough for her to know whodunit, she must also prove it to others. But I don't know that the monkeys can recover from what she does to them.

I especially liked the illustration on page 27 of the erect silhouette a young schoolgirl under a large, spreading tree with a monkey on a branch all in black, with red mountains in the background.

I loved reading this "prequel" to this popular series about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The author says in his note at the end that many families had enjoyed reading his books together and he wanted something specifically for the kids. This book was fun and I especially enjoyed the black, red and white illustrations (woodcut prints?) that were designed for the first version that was written in the Scotch language. ( )

Precious Ramotswe has a quiet, careful way of thinking through problems, and this serves her well in her very first detective case: someone is stealing sweets out her school's classroom, and some classmates have accused a friend of Precious' even though they have no proof!

A sweet, gentle story, that emphasizes kindness and honesty, Precious uses cleverness to prove that her friend is not the thief. A good story, I'll be using this for my 3rd-5th grade book club this summer. We'll have plenty to talk about (thanks to the discussion questions included in the back), and I'd like to do drawings based on the illustrations in the book, which look like woodcuts and are in black and red. Should be fun!

Recommended. (Ages 7-10)

*Update: during our discussion, we talked a lot about making assumptions, accusing people of things without proof, what makes a 'nice' person 'nice', what qualities a detective needs, etc. Then, right before the end of the discussion, we began discussing cover and title, and how the emphasis of the story might change depending on the title. For instance, the US version if 'The Great Cake Mystery", which the girls felt worked, since they felt the main element of the story was the mystery of who is stealing the cakes. But when I told them the UK version is called 'Precious and the Monkeys", we talked about how that changes their view of the story - that maybe it's not about the thieves, but about Precious' helping a friend. Then when we included the subtitle, "Precious Ra_'s first case", one of the girls suggested that change the emphasis to Precious realizing that she wants to be a detective when she grows up. We had a great discussion! : ) ( )