Module 4 Book Review #2: Never Smile at a Monkey: And 17 Other Important Things to Remember

*This book review was written for a MLS course at SHSU.*

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jenkins, Steve. (2009). NEVER SMILE AT A MONKEY: AND 17 OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Children. ISBN 9780618966202

PLOT SUMMARY

We are all aware that there are many different animals that humans should definitely not mess with, especially the wild ones. However, there are many other animals in which people just assume are safe to be around and are completely harmless, but Steve Jenkins’ Never Smile at a Monkey: And 17 Other Important Things to Remember proves this wrong. From venomous bites to being kicked with total might, it is important for everybody to recognize these different dangers to protect themselves if they ever encounter any of these species.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Steve Jenkins dedicates one to two pages per animal he describes in this informative book. Each of them gets a short little paragraph, which is more than enough when it comes to the message he is clearly trying to deliver. In addition to this paragraph, Jenkins provides one warning statement in big, colorful font. There’s only one word within these statements that is black/grayish, all capitalized, and repeated. That word is “NEVER”. This is seen on almost all of the pages because he wants the readers to know that although some of these animals seem fine to be around, they must not be bothered with under any circumstance. The consequences that are listed with this “NEVER” statement are usually listed as the extreme ones. For example, death is practically mentioned all the time, which honestly seems harsh and a little too much to bring up in a children’s book. However, it’s all for good reasons, for the students most likely will get intimidated but also get informed in order to protect themselves if ever needed.

As for the illustrations, Jenkins does an excellent job with making this informational text cater towards children. The animals seem realistic, but they are very lively-colored. Their skin textures appear to be splashes and marks of watercolors. Jenkins most likely illustrated the animals to appear this way in order to prove that people can quickly assume that the animal is “okay” to have encounters with, but then they can be fooled. In a way, his pictures are somewhat similar to some of Eric Carle’s work, but they are used more for teaching purposes rather than telling a story.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

*Booklist Book Review: "With his trademark cut-paper technique, Jenkins proves there may not be a texture that he can’t mimic on the page. The high-interest marriage of animals and danger, along with large, vibrant visuals, makes this a prime candidate for group sharing, and additional details and artwork at the end will flesh out some of the finer points for older children."

*School Library Journal Starred Review: "A visually stunning book illustrated with cut paper and torn collages...This superlative illustrator has given children yet another work that educates and amazes."

*Kirkus Reviews Review: “Another stunning environmental lesson from an aficionado of animal behavior.”

CONNECTIONS

*What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You?is another nonfiction book by Steve Jenkins that uses animals for informational examples (i.e. their defense mechanisms for survival).

*101 Questions and Answers About Dangerous Animalsby Seymour Simon gives further explanations about animals most people suspect aren’t all that bad but can really be deadly.

*Students can create a “Did You Know” board in a science hallway. They can pick various animals from this book by Jenkins and then do further internet research on them (and look at the few resource pages in the back of the book) to add to their information they are going to share.

PICTURE SOURCE

https://www.amazon.com/Never-Smile-Monkey-Important-Remember/dp/0544228014