Naughty Little Monkeys

Naughty Little Monkeys

Written by Jim Aylesworth

Illustrated by Henry Cole

Jim Aylesworth, 2003

29 pages

Picture Book

            The colorful cover and amusing title are what brought me to pick up this book!  In this ABC rhyming book entitled Naughty Little Monkeys, Mom and Dad are going out for the night, and they leave their twenty-six monkey children home alone!  One can only imagine what kind of monkey business they get into!  How much trouble will they cause before Mom and Dad get home?  Don’t monkey around; pick up this book to find out!  

            Henry Cole’s bright and vibrant illustrations go along with the text of this book; they depict the monkeys’ mischievousness very well.  Henry Cole enjoys using acrylic paint and colored pencils in his artwork, so I am assuming he used those same mediums in the illustrations in this book as well.  Cole used a great amount of detail to show character’s facial expressions throughout the book and to depict the monkeys’ mischievous activities.  He even put each of the monkey’s names on their pajamas!  The vast majority of his illustrations are doublespreads, showing a large scene of monkey mischief.  I really enjoyed Henry Cole’s illustrations of monkey business in this book, and I feel that children would enjoy them too.

            This cute ABC rhyming book could easily have a place in any kindergarten to third grade classroom depending on how it is used.  In kindergarten, this book could be used to supplement the student’s knowledge about the alphabet.  Each letter is represented by some action in the book, so the teacher could ask the students what letter each activity starts with.  This book could also be used to study poetry.  The teacher could cover rhyme scheme and ask the students to identify the words that rhyme.  Furthermore, the students could use their higher-order thinking skills to write an alternate stanza for one of the letters in the alphabet.  In conclusion, there are many fun ways that the book Naughty Little Monkeys could be implemented in the classroom.  Both the students and the teacher would all have a blast!