No Case Is Too Big

There are those individuals wired to analyze any given situation.  If presented with a problem, they seek a solution.  They are well-read in their particular field of interest.  They are not surprisingly exceptional in their endeavors.

A new character sure to be highly liked if not downright loved is to be introduced to readers on February 27, 2018.  He seeks.  He reads.  He is gifted.  Baby Monkey, Private Eye (Scholastic Press) story by Brian Selznick and David Serlin with pictures by Brian Selznick is a delightful blend of mystery, humor and the unexpected.

WAIT!
Who 
is
Baby
Monkey?

Obviously he's a baby and a monkey but what you don't know is this baby monkey has a job.  He's one of the most adorable private eyes in the business.  Presented with a series of cases, you will also come to realize his cleverness.

In the first scene Baby Monkey is cozily leaning against a cushion on the sofa in his office.  A typewriter is on the table in front of the sofa.  A variety of pictures on the visible walls and a bust of a famous person on his desk relate to the person about to open his door.  Baby Monkey is reading Famous Jewel Crimes.  

An opera star dressed in full costume bursts into Baby Monkey's office proclaiming the theft of her jewels.  Baby Monkey is confident in his ability.  He gathers and notes pertinent information.  He takes a moment to fuel his body with food (baby carrots).  He struggles to put on his pants.  After several attempts, he is ready to crack this case.  And he does!  His victory is complete when the case gets headlines in the Monkey Times.  

This first notable triumph is repeated in three more case.  Major components of Baby Monkey's investigative routine remain in place but the victims, the thefts and the criminals (plus Baby Monkey's snacks and office decor) are wildly and widely varied.  There's a huge difference between the stolen items of a chef, a clown and an astronaut. Readers can also see the toll these busy endeavors are taking on Baby Monkey. He's exhausted.

With the arrival of the next client, our precious primate can barely keep his eyes open.  His procedure is abandoned in favor of immediate knowledge of the superbly satisfying conclusion to this fifth case.

Hooray for Baby Monkey!


With a stroke of genius authors Brian Selznick and David Serlin start this book designed for early readers with a single, shouted word.  When we are told to wait, isn't our greatest desire to do the opposite?  Readers (of all ages) will be willing participants in this story as soon as they see the established pattern of the narrative.

Key phrases are constant in the cases until Baby Monkey's fatigue is evident.  His quiet exclamations as he consumes his munchies and when he tries to put his pants on shift somewhat to assist in pacing and elevate the comedy.  This anticipated tempo provides the perfect platform for the big reveal. Here is the continuation of the introduction before the first case.

He is
a baby.
He is
a monkey.
He has
a job . . .


To tell you the truth, I can hardly wait to hold a completed copy, other than an uncorrected proof shared by a colleague, this coming Tuesday. The entire book, more than 190 pages, is nearly all wordless black and white images created by Brian Selznick.  The red used in the title text on the front of the dust jacket is sparely used at the end of each chapter.  When the simple text is displayed, it is done so in a large font on pristine white.  To view the book case here is a link to a tweet by Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher.

The drawings, artwork, of Brian Selznick will literally take your breath away.  The details in Baby Monkey will have you reaching out to touch the page.  The perspectives used in portraying the youngster shift with excellence as the cases unfold.  The series of single page portraits for each case of him striving to put on a pair of pants are merry mirth inducing.

What all readers will find intriguing is the decor in Baby Monkey's office.  With each case it changes prompting us to do a bit of research prior to the door opening to disclose the next client.  If we simply can't take the time to do it then, we will be compelled to do so after the book is completed.

One of my favorite of nearly all of these illustrations is one of the single-page pictures when he is first trying to put on his pants.  We are given an indication of his size as he sits on a book on its side.  Baby Monkey is facing the gutter from an illustration on the right.  His left leg is in the right pant leg.  He is holding the left pant leg in his hands trying to figure out what to do next.  His face, wide-eyed as usual, is scrunched in perplexity.


One copy of Baby Monkey, Private Eye written by Brian Selznick and David Serlin with pictures by Brian Selznick for your professional and private collections will not be enough.  You are going to need multiple copies.  This book will be highly read repeatedly and shared extensively among the intended audience as well as anyone fortunate to read it.  At the close of the book are smaller illustrations of Baby Monkey's office with information about the decor.  There is also an index and a bibliography which you need to read with careful reflection and an urge to laugh.

If you wish to know about the creators of this book and the book, you can visit the publisher's website here or a special website for the book here.  Both places are loaded with images, information, activities and the book trailer.  Brian Selznick is featured in a Publishers Weekly article which concludes with a discussion about this book.  Brian Selznick and David Serlin are interviewed at Shelf Awareness about this title.  Just a few days ago Brian Selznick is showcased in an article in The New York Times.  There is a The New York Times  live video of his studio, his drawing and this book.

To Heed Or Not To Heed...That Is The Question

It would seem when it comes to following written instructions, directions, commands or requests, people fall into two distinct categories, those who do and those who don't.  If you comply you may save time, reap rewards and spare yourself trouble.  If you fail to observe what is asked you may find yourself and others in a bit of a predicament.

When author Adam Lehrhaupt and illustrator Matthew Forsythe introduced readers to a cast of crazy primates and rambunctious toucans plus one nasty reptile in Warning: Do Not Open This Book! (A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, August 27, 2013) readers should have done as they were asked or at least had a boatload of bananas handy.  The gang has returned in a crackerjack companion title, Please, Open This Book! (A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, October 6, 2015).  The jungle bunch has changed their tune and is pleading for assistance.

Hello?
Finally!
Quick.
Someone turn on the light.

A monkey holding a lantern is jubilantly shouting.  You have saved the day by opening the book.  The last reader trapped the entire company of characters inside.  Survival cost them dearly, physically and emotionally. Their final fruit is looking like something dragged from the garbage bin.

They are attempting to catch the responsible culprit; hopeful you have seen him.  As they continue to patch up the mess, you are asked to leave the book open.  You are not to turn one more page.

Promises are made if you simply walk away now. What!?  How could you turn another page?  As a reader you can't help it.  You fail to understand their reasoning.  You wouldn't think of ensnaring these poor innocents.  Would you?

Panic and pleading is evident in the expression of the narrator.  A bribe is offered; well at least a half of a bribe.  STOP! STOP! STOP! That ends that...or does it?

Adam Lehrhaupt has infused an array of emotions in the voice of the narrator.  We sense the relief felt by our presence.  We understand the plight of the animals.  We are aware of the damage done by our predecessor.  We knowingly nod when given a promise and presented with a bribe.

 Despite all this we are persuaded to proceed by the cloak of comedy covering the narrative.  We willingly wear it as we march toward the end trying not to laugh.  But it's hopeless thanks to the adept use of language by Lehrhaupt.  Here is another sample passage.

We're still fixing things from last
time.  So you should leave this book
open.  Just put it down.
Step away from the book.


As a companion, comparison and reversal of the first title, the first thing you notice is the black background as opposed to the white in the initial book.  This serves to showcase the wide-eyed look of the inhabitants due to fear and lack of light.  The pennants held when coupled with the facial expressions begin the hilarity.  You will have to read the book to discover what the back on the matching dust jacket and book case reveals.  The opening endpapers are completely dark.  The closing endpapers highlight what your deed has done.  Before the story starts sign-holding characters offer suggestions to the readers.

Rendered digitally by Matthew Forsythe the illustrations elevate the words of Lehrhaupt by telling us more than the text.  The alligator wearing a sling and a cast, the toucan's bill wrapped in bandages and the lemur hiding beneath a cardboard box provide us with a visual as to the extent of the destruction done.  The close-ups of the banana and the monkey's face will have you bursting out in laughter; as will the papers strewn about the floor as a gorilla types, hunt and peck fashion.  The font color and placement of the text adds to the telling, becoming part of the visual whole.

One of my favorite illustrations is of the narrator promising to change the story, making it better.  We see him on the left; body language suggesting the sincerity of his words.  On the right sits the gorilla typing in earnest.  The same word appears over and over, page after page.  They are both looking straight at the reader.  It's impossible not to grin.  It's impossible to believe the monkey.


Please, Open This Book! written by Adam Lehrhaupt with pictures by Matthew Forsythe captivates readers with an invitation to participate.  It's a read-aloud gem with every page turn.  It's destined to be a family and classroom favorite with repeated requests to "read it again."

By following the links attached to their names you can discover more about Adam Lehrhaupt and Matthew Forsythe at their respective websites.  Six interior images are shown at the publisher's website. On Watch. Connect. Read. the blog of Scholastic's Ambassador to School Libraries, John Schumacher hosts the amazing book trailer premiere and a post by Adam Lehrhaupt.  To see how this all began, read You've Been Warned... a question and answer with Adam Lehrhaupt and the book trailer reveal for the first book.  UPDATE:  November 20, 2015 Adam Lehrhaupt and Matthew Forsythe chat with teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner on his Let's Get Busy, Episode 208 podcast.

Please, Open This Book! https://t.co/HQQoT0vZxa

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) November 3, 2015

Use Extreme Caution

After fourteen years living in northern Michigan you would think I would be used to the wind; more days are windy than not.  As a weather nerd (I frequently check NOAA National Weather Service to follow local, state and national weather) I've noticed this year in addition to Small Craft Advisories or Gale Warnings, a new type of alert, Beach Hazards Statement.  This advises people to watch for high wave action, longshore currents and rip currents.  People know wind combined with these headlines are serious.

There are other times when an alert, advisory or warning is an invitation to do the exact opposite of the request.  Perhaps you or someone else are doing something particularly annoying; one or the other will utter these oft-heard words, "I'm warning you, ..."  To the frustration of one, the other continues with glee.  The very finest demands to ignore though are found within the pages of a book.  Every single page turn in Warning: Do Not Open This Book! (A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, August 27, 2013) narrated by Adam Lehrhaupt with illustrations by Matthew Forsythe is a tantalizing temptation.

Maybe you should put this book back.
You don't want to let the monkeys out.

Immediately you are wondering how and why monkeys got trapped inside a book.  You are compelled beyond your control to turn the next page.  This completed compulsion is greeted with a question.

The narrator is inquiring as to why you are here and not back where it is safer.  If you stay on this page, you are still in a risk-free area.  It would be a very good thing to remain right where you are.

Desire to discover the truth has deepened.  What's the worst that could happen?  It's a book after all.  Right?

Uh...Oh...

Here they come.

First one, then eight more monkeys of all shapes and sizes scamper across the pages carrying art supplies and a musical instrument.  What are these roaming rascals going to do?  It's a jungle, a rather sloppy jungle, but they've painted a jungle!  Whew, okay...this is a situation which can be handled without fear. Why are we readers being cautioned to stop turning pages?

Yikes!  I guess if you have tropical trees an invasion of toucans is a given.  Above the chaotic noise another sound is heard.  It's not a good sound....not a good sound at all.  Readers are now wishing they would have listened.  They should have heeded the advice of the faithful narrator.  Will a fruitful trap be able to save the day?


Readers could not ask for a better narrator, author, than Adam Lehrhaupt to tell this tale of playful pandemonium.  Each sentence is structured, despite words to the contrary, to entice readers to proceed.  As readers fall farther under the spell he has verbally cast, they realize there is no turning back.  Even if they could they don't want to; they're having too much fun with Lehrhaupt as the perfect partner on this adventure.


Digitally rendered illustrations by artist Matthew Forsythe enhance and extend this story from the matching front jacket and cover onward.  From the tape, chains and glaring messages on the front to the opening endpapers, the results of not taking the title seriously are clearly delineated.  A pattern of various style signs with wit and wisdom warn and question; my favorite is HERE IS THE LAST GUY WHO READ THIS BOOK with an arrow pointing to a skull.  (At this point I can barely contain laughter.)

Grays, browns, golds and greens in earth tone hues color pictures varying in size and position.  Some are front and center, others cover a single page or extend across the gutter.  Backgrounds shift from white, lots of white, to a pale golden, and to a deep gray green. Once the first monkey head peeks from the lower right-hand corner of a double-page spread  the jungle jive begins; those primates move, groove and rest with a passion.  I think one of my favorite text and illustrative combinations is

Can you stop now?
Everything used to
be so good.
Wait! Did you hear...

The two-page spread of the monkey faces close up with the accompanying toucans, wide-eyed and questioning, is loaded with premonition (and hilarity).  The closing endpapers and back jacket with corresponding cover are all part of the story, too.


Four words come to mind when thinking of Warning: Do Not Open This Book! narrated by Adam Lehrhaupt with illustrations by Matthew Forsythe, impeccable pacing and relentless humor.  Reading it aloud makes it even better.  This book is meant to be shared.  Believe me...your listeners will ask for this title over and over.  I'm tempted to pair this with James Stevenson's Don't Make Me Laugh.

Please follow the links above to the author and illustrator websites for more information about each.  Here is the link to a recent interview of Adam Lehrhaupt at Watch. Connect. Read. by John Schumacher.  Please visit the blog post of the debut of the book trailer.  Have fun and open this book at will... as long as you have a banana.

Count? Where Are They?

We all go through life with expectations, some more obvious than others.  In the northern climes we expect to see the seasons change.  When the wind rises, lightning flashes and thunder booms, we expect to see falling raindrops.  After planting corn seed, we expect to see tall stalks with juicy ears lining the field.

When we are asked by a friend to put the silverware on the table, we expect to see forks, spoons and knives in the drawer, not screwdrivers, wrenches and hammers.  I'm here to tell you, readers, when you open the cover of Count the Monkeys (Disney Hyperion Books) by Mac Barnett with illustrations by Kevin Cornell, you can take any expectations you might have and throw them out the window.   You are lured into the pages of this book expecting to count...well...monkeys.

Hey, kids! Time to count the monkeys!
It's fun.  It's easy.  All you have to do is turn the page...

Gasp.  There are no monkeys.  In fact, a gigantic king cobra has ripped the Monkeys This Way-> sign out of the jungle ground with his dangerous tail.  This one snake, a very scary snake, is definitely not a monkey.  We are asked to turn the page ever so gently.

Instead of monkeys what do we see?  We see two mongooses chasing the slithery serpent away.  We are also asked to vote whether the plural is mongooses or mongeese by raising our hands.  What kind of book is this anyway?  And where are the monkeys we are supposed to be counting?

We turn the page hoping finally to see some monkeys but no...we see three crocodiles.  Are we ever going to see any monkeys?  Each two-page spread features a creature who banishes the previous being.  Bears, bees, beekeepers, wolves, lumberjacks, more lumberjacks and the oddest musical rhinoceroses to ever grace the pages of a book appear.

We count from one to ten and back to zero again but the monkeys we anticipated seeing have not made an appearance by the book's final page.  Perhaps we should write a letter to the author or illustrator or publisher about this visible mistake.  Or maybe we should turn the page and look at the...!


When it comes to the unexpected, when it comes to humor, Mac Barnett knows exactly which words to place on each page.  In this title it's as if he is carrying on a personal conversation with the reader.  We are not only counting everything but monkeys, we are reading his comments barely able to contain gales of laughter.  Every effort is being made to follow his instructions to the letter.  This narrative is a fine example of the participatory give and take readers love between themselves and an author.


Get ready for howling hoots and snickering snorts, Kevin Cornell's illustrations are jam-packed with characters on the move.  For starters the jacket showcases eight scampy monkeys who, if you listen closely, are making all kinds of noise.  The jacket back features the Monkeys This Way-> sign.  Different illustrations on the cover highlight eight of the critters and four frightened lumberjacks.  Apparently they don't like their proximity to the grizzly bear.  Opening endpapers usher readers into a lush tropical landscape in hues of green.

Each of the numbers is given a double-page spread alive with bold colors.  The comic expressions on the characters' faces, smiles, frowns and eyes, draw the reader into the unfolding, rollicking romp.  Added touches such as the numbered running shirts on the mongooses, top hats, canes and vests on the crocodiles, a bottle of Picno Bismal by the gulping, guzzling grizzlies, the Scottish attire on the rhinoceroses and the placement of a childhood toy, unseen until the final page, all contribute to the nonstop fun found in this title.


It's a given multiple copies will be needed.  It's a given this book will be read over and over.  It's a given Count The Monkeys written by Mac Barnett with illustrations by Kevin Cornell will be a favorite no matter the age of the reader.  Double thumbs up and high fives all around.

There are a couple of things which came to mind when reading this book.  One was this would make an outstanding readers theater.  I can see using handmade puppets or representative props.  There are enough characters so every student could participate more than once.

What continuously popped into my mind as I was reading this, based upon the unanticipated circumstances found on each page turn, was the old television show, Candid Camera.  Here's one of the older shows for your end-of-the-week, Friday enjoyment.

You've Been Warned...

For quite some time there's been a virtual voice in my Twitter feed that's spreading laughter with his astute observations, sharing his family's slices of life and providing fantastic support to everyone involved in the #kidlit community.  Adam Lehrhaupt's life has been most interesting; traveling to six continents, performing on Broadway, and living on a communal farm.  (There's much more to know about Adam by following the link to his website and blog.) Due to strange happenings at my home recently, I've decided to negotiate a chat with Adam.

Good morning, Adam.

Hello Margie. Thanks for inviting me to stop by.

I understand you have a new book being released this summer.

That I do.  My first picture book, Warning: Do Not Open This Book!, will be released on August 27, 2013 from Simon & Schuster.  

Hmmm...can you explain why UPS delivered six cases of bananas to my front door?

There could be a lot of reasons for that.  You won the banana of the month sweepstakes?  Bizarre neighbor prank? Xena needs a little more potassium in her diet?

No, no and no, Adam.  Also whenever Xena and I walk around the yard, the birdsong has been replaced with jungle noises and guitar music.  You wouldn't have any idea why, would you?

OH.  That might not be good.  Um, you didn't by chance watch...the book trailer I sent you?

Well...I thought I was supposed to watch it, wasn't I?  It's just a video isn't it?  Adam, is there something you aren't telling me?

Um...something I'm not telling you...nope.  Nothing at all.  Everything is fine.  Maybe you are experiencing one of those global warming phenomenons.  You know, like they talk about on the news.  With all the animal migrations and ice melts and such.  Have you seen less snow and ice recently?

Now that you mention it, my yard does seem to be looking more like summer as opposed to my neighbors who still have piles of snow.  Hmmmmm...

Perhaps, given the events of the past week at my home, I'm thinking it might prove to be important if you were to share more information about your book.  What sparked the idea for you to write it?

Well, that's a bit of a long story.  Not Doctor Zhivago long, more like unnecessarily making The Hobbit

into three movies long.  I'll try to condense it down.  My family and I took a vacation to Honduras a few years ago.  The resort where we stayed had a troop of monkeys roaming around, causing all kinds of mayhem.  I began wondering what would happen if I put these monkeys into a book.  And, once they were in the book, what would result when you opened it.  That is the core of what Warning: Do Not Open This Book! is about.  When you disregard all the warnings and free the monkeys, exactly what occurs?

That's all well and good, but I don't have the book.  And I'm wondering Adam, if you asked the monkeys' permission prior to putting them in the book. They could be a tad put out.  EEEEEKKKKK!  Adam, vines are starting to grow out of my walls. What should I do?  Oh...My...Goodness...Adam?  There's a monkey riding on Xena's back.  I'm starting to hear those jungle noises and guitar music inside my house.  Adam?  Ada?  A?  (The sounds of howling monkeys and one barking dog are all that can be heard.)

Margie?  Hello?  Margie?  Uh oh, Xena.  Now I've done it.  I shouldn't have sent the trailer.  You need to keep people from watching it.  It could be dangerous.  

WOOF! WOOF!

Warning: Do Not Watch This Trailer!

Really.  Not kidding here.  Look what happened to Margie.

You should stop now.

Don't click play.