Steve Haskamp

The book takes the familiar "five silly monkeys jumping on the bed" song, sets it to pictures and slightly alters the wording. Instead of five monkeys, there are eight, and they are doing more than just jumping on the bed: they are eating, spinning, dancing, and sliding. At the end, after all of the monkeys have fallen and been ordered never to jump on the bed again, the book ends with a tease of the eight monkeys jumping on the couch.

The new lyrics still match the rhythm of the original show more song, making both reading and singing equally viable options for this book. The bright illustrations are humorous and depict each new outlandish activity; more importantly, the monkey heads are made of a hard plastic shell, that entices little fingers. As you turn each page, another monkey falls off the bed, and they disappear from the illustrations, along with their plastic skulls. This is a basic book, but it has appeal in its familiar rhyme, the silly factor, and the sensory aspect. It reinforces basic counting ideas. For my daughters, who love the monkey song, the book was an easy sell. show less

A dog doesn't fully enjoy his playtime at the park because he's always worried about losing his stuffed toy. But then he loses it anyway.

There is some mild teasing and name calling by another dog, but it all works out quite blandly in the end.

My daughter liked this when she was six, but she was also obsessed with Golden Retrievers, so I wouldn't necessarily trust her judgement.

FOR REFERENCE:

Rated "Indifferent" in our old book database by Rod; rated "Good" by Adelia.

Five silly monkeys jumping on the bed . . . .

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Count the monkeys. Sing the song. See the surprise at the end.

Colorful illustrations accompany the song-text that young readers will immediately recognize. This is a fun way to share storytime with young readers.

Recommended.

• This book is about five silly monkeys jumping, eating, swinging, sliding, and spinning on the bed. Each monkey is being silly and hurting themselves while doing one of the activities listed above. The monkey’s mom calls the doctor and over and over again the doctor tells them not to jump on the bed. Then at the end, on the cover page, all five monkeys shout out no one said we couldn’t jump on the couch.
• This book is great for younger children. I love the art on each page and the show more monkey’s expressions are great. I remember when I was younger my mom use to get onto me and my brother for jumping on the bed that is how we got introduced to this book. Learning jumping on the bed is fun and good until someone gets hurt.
• Each student in the class could sing along with the book and the students who don’t know the five little monkeys song, well it gives them a chance to learn it. Also each student could learn how to count to five from this book and practice it in fun ways around the classroom. show less