Jeff Mack

Mr. Monkey, who looks like a human with a tail, furry ears, and large muzzle, is baking a cake. He dumps in bananas, sugar, and other ingredients, making a huge mess. However, he ends up with a great cake! Which he's too full to eat, having stuffed himself with bananas. Fortunately, there's a cake contest in town and he sets off to complete. Along the way, he runs into a series of catastrophes; he jaywalks and is almost run over by a tattooed cyclist, fends off birds, is chased by dogs, show more nearly gets attacked by a gorilla... finally, he arrives at the competition.... but he's too late! The competition is over. Could things get any worse? Well, that gorilla is still on the loose...

Cartoon illustrations show the series of mishaps, slapstick, and luck that Mr. Monkey encounters. Throughout the story, there's a small black girl in the background, carefully carrying her own pink-frosted cake and she gets incorporated into the happy ending. This comes in at a good beginning reader level - it's a 220 lexile level and would come out to a red sticker, or beginning reader (one step above emergent readers) in my library.

I'm... torn about this one. I really don't know what to decide in conclusion. On the one hand, I'm sure kids will like this. The cartoon illustrations and panels, slapstick humor, and colorful art are similar to other popular series like Jump-into-chapters, Elephant and Piggie, and Ethan Long's titles. There's a nice diversity in the background characters - the little black girl and tattooed bike rider with a basket full of flowers. But... for anyone who's been following children's literature discussions online there's been a lot of controversy (not just recently, it's always been around, it's just recently cropped up again) about depicting humans as monkeys, children as monkeys, etc. because of the racist overtones. I'm not going to comment one way or another on that - I don't feel qualified to judge and I haven't purchased most of the books discussed for other reasons - but this one... why is Mr. Monkey a monkey? He doesn't talk, and yet he's very anthropomorphic - and there's a very stereotypical gorilla in a cage. It just feels... off. Maybe I'm overly sensitive to it because of the ongoing discussion, but maybe this is a good thing to feel sensitive about?

Verdict: I don't know. Kids would like it and read it, but the depiction of a half-man/half-monkey feels off to me. I honestly doubt the author had anything but funny cartoons in his mind when he wrote/drew this - his work is very silly, similar to Ethan Long. It's got many excellent reviews, including some starred reviews. So... I really don't know. Am I overthinking this? Should I get it since I know the kids will like it? Discuss it in a book club? What do you think?

ISBN: 9781534404311; Published July 2018 by Simon & Schuster; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

First sentence: Look, Dog. I got you a pet. What is it Pony?

Premise/pot: Dog and Pony are friends. Pony surprises Dog with a pet. What kind of pet? The one Dog has always wanted? No. Not exactly. It is a rock. A pet rock. Will Dog be grateful? Maybe. Maybe not. Can he make the most of the situation? Perhaps with a little imagination.

My thoughts: I loved this one so much because there is a certain exuberance to it. These characters leap off the pages. There is humor and liveliness. It is an show more early graphic novel. All of Pony's speech bubbles have an orange background. All of Dog's speech bubbles have a yellow background. It is a full story. I think it would be easy to identify the problem (and solution) and also identify character traits and track character growth. Plenty of places to stop and pause and ask what do you think will happen next. show less

First sentence: Look, Pony. I can dance!

Premise/plot: Dog loves, loves, loves to dance. Dog is wearing DANCE pants and having the time of his life. Pony doesn't particularly care to dance. But Dog is insistent. If Pony can't dance well, Pony needs pants, pants, pants, and more pants. But what if the PANTS Pony needs are DOG'S PANTS?!?!?!

My thoughts: This book had me laughing out loud. I'm not just saying that. I wouldn't lie about that. I found this book amusing, fun, silly. I couldn't help show more myself. Granted I was reading it later at night when I'm a bit sillier-minded. But still. This one was GREAT fun. show less

I had reservations about this book when I read the description; I always think books that encourage reading vs. screens are sort of...well....silly. I mean, if you're not reading, you're not going to get the message and if you're reading it you're already reading so...but Jeff Mack is so funny and my library has loved everything he's done, so I gave it a chance and he came through for me!

With only two words, "look" and "out" you wouldn't expect much of a story but drama, friendship, action, show more hilarity and silliness ensue when a friendly gorilla tries to get a little boy to LOOK when the little boy just wants the gorilla OUT.

The gorilla isn't sure what these strange square things are, but they seem perfect for getting the little boy's attention. But the boy is glued to his screen. The gorilla's antics escalate until tragedy strikes and the boy sends the gorilla OUT! and looks sadly at his broken tv...but there is a book right there and it's open and...a friendship develops and together they LOOK.

The two characters are delightfully expressive throughout their interactions, but there's so much more to the art than just the characters. Each page has a different "bookish" background, from the classic library date stamp in the front of the book to faux leather bindings, crumpled pages, and those classic library bindings. The text changes fonts on every page, from collage letters to scribbled crayon, matching the mood of the scenes.

Verdict: This is a perfect book for storytime, but also for beginning readers to practice their visual as well as textual literacy. This is definitely going on the list I'm making of picture books for beginning readers. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9780399162053; Published 2015 by Philomel/Penguin; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library show less