Never Smile at a Monkey

Title: Never Smile at a Monkey and 17 Other Important Things to Remember

Author: Steve Jenkins

Monarch Nominee (2012)

Most kids know that they shouldn’t try to pet a tiger or swim with a shark but what they don’t know is how dangerous other, sometimes friendly-looking, creatures can be. And let’s face it – even as adults many of us are in the dark when it comes to safety and wild animals. The point of this story is to inform children about dangerous animals and what they should never do in front of them to avoid getting hurt. Not only is the information useful, but it is fun, engaging, and presented in a way that is easy for any reader to understand. Most importantly, I feel as if the book is appropriate for a wide variety of students and can even teach adults more about a topic they don’t know much about. I myself can say that 90 percent of the information I read was new to me. Not to mention, the illustrations are wonderful and colorful and remind me of the work of Eric Carle.

In the classroom, I would use this book in my science curriculum probably during a unit about animals or predators. I could see it as being a starting point for a more in depth project that the students could complete for the unit. The back of the book provides an excellent appendix that gives a more detailed explanation of the animals presented and the threat they pose to humans. The book even provides a literary extension in that it teaches children alliteration. For example, the author says to never “pet a platypus”, “cuddle a cub”, or “harass a hippopotamus” to name a few.