A review by sandraagee
Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick, David Serlin
4.0
This book is one part super long easy reader, one part easy chapter book. It's weird and it's charming and it's kind of it's own thing, kind of like [b:Bink & Gollie|7616655|Bink & Gollie (Bink & Gollie, #1)|Kate DiCamillo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320465077s/7616655.jpg|10081263] was.**
The five chapters are very repetitive when it comes to the text. It's really the illustrations that do the heavy lifting when it comes to making this story dynamic and charming. The text is so simple, but those illustrations contain so many fine details that older kids will probably still enjoy this one, even if it is a quick read. And who doesn't enjoy watching a baby monkey struggle to put on pants?
**Bink & Gollies is the best read-alike that I can come up with because both books use an unusual combination of text and illustration to tell a story that defies the industry's conventions. But where Bink & Gollie uses impressively advanced vocabulary, Baby Monkey uses very simple words. Bink & Gollie clocks in at 81 pages, while Baby Monkey has 191. Their biggest similarity is in the use of whimsical illustrations, which make the story bigger than the sum of its other parts.
The five chapters are very repetitive when it comes to the text. It's really the illustrations that do the heavy lifting when it comes to making this story dynamic and charming. The text is so simple, but those illustrations contain so many fine details that older kids will probably still enjoy this one, even if it is a quick read. And who doesn't enjoy watching a baby monkey struggle to put on pants?
**Bink & Gollies is the best read-alike that I can come up with because both books use an unusual combination of text and illustration to tell a story that defies the industry's conventions. But where Bink & Gollie uses impressively advanced vocabulary, Baby Monkey uses very simple words. Bink & Gollie clocks in at 81 pages, while Baby Monkey has 191. Their biggest similarity is in the use of whimsical illustrations, which make the story bigger than the sum of its other parts.