At home in Mango Tree, Big Little Monkey wakes early and wants to play. But since his family isn’t ready to get up, he decides he’s big enough to go off and play by himself. He visits a sloth (too quiet), a parrot (too squawky), and a boa constrictor (too tricky). Each is surprised to find such a little monkey playing alone, and boa constrictor nearly makes breakfast of him. But he is clearly a wise little primate despite his youth, and soon he goes back home, boasting of his risky exploits while reassuring his Dear Mama that “sometimes, I am still your Little Monkey too.”

Seattle’s Carole Lexa Schaefer is not only an author (of Down in the Woods at Sleepytime and others), but also the director of a preschool, and her book is ideal for preschoolers eager for independence but still developing the competence to act on their own. The language in Big Little Monkey has a loose, subtle rhythm with echoes of folk tales: “And, hand over hand, bim-ba-lah, bim-ba-lah, Little Monkey swung away until….” The successive visits to three not-quite-right potential friends are reminiscent of folk tales, too. Schaefer’s lesson about knowing one’s limits – while moving steadily toward independence and adventure – is gently expressed.

Montreal illustrator Pierre Pratt’s illustrations are colourful, dense, and textured. Although the monkeys, with their big jutting jaws, are more primitive in style than conventionally cute, every scene is animated and evocative, and the lush, green forest – rendered to convey the depth and variety of
a real rainforest – looks like an irresistible place to play, indeed, even when your family is too lazy to get up and join you.