Review by Booklist Review
Reverse psychology runs rampant in this amusing collaboration between first-time author Lehrhaupt and award-winning illustrator Forsythe. Opening this book is like venturing into a cordoned-off danger zone. Those who disobey the cover threats are met with four pages of comically dire signs: Come On . . . Seriously? and I Guess You Don't Mind Being Mauled by Monkeys. There's a catch-your-breath moment after the reader turns the next page, quickly followed by a riot of monkeys barreling across a double-page spread, toting paints, crayons, and a guitar. The narrator implores the reader to get out before things get worse. And they do get worse, with the destructive monkeys being followed by toucans and an alligator that opens his jaws very, very wide. At last, the narrator supplies the reader with an ingenious way to lure the whole zoo back into the confines of the book. The earth-tone digital illustrations well replicate the messy monkey business of painting all over the trees and pages, and the playful arrangement of text adds greatly to the book's mayhem. Wonderful chaos.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Mixed messages about reading abound, from Michaela Muntean and Pascal Lemaitre's Do Not Open This Book! to Cece Meng and Joy Ang's I Will Not Read This Book and Jesse Klausmeier and Suzy Lee's Open This Little Book. Lehrhaupt's debut predictably counts on curious readers to ignore the dire warning and its accompanying threat, "You don't want to let the monkeys out." As pages turn, lemurs, baboons, and rhesus monkeys stalk into the spreads, where they pluck at the printed words and paint trees for themselves. The narrator's uninspired pleas to readers ("Can you stop now? Everything used to be so good") scaffold Forsythe's (My Name Is Elizabeth!) primitive, earth-tone watercolors of the escalating melee. When a flock of toucans joins the troublemaking monkeys, and a giant alligator emerges from the right margin, readers get to be part of the solution: "You can catch them all in this book!" If Forsythe's grainy illustrations echo Jon Klassen's picture books, the mood in this outing is light and message-free. Ages 4-8. Illustrator's agent: Judith Hansen, Hansen Literary. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Children won't be able to resist the urge to turn the page as they wade through caution tape, warning signs, and scenes of chaos. The madcap mayhem includes monkeys stealing the illustrator's tools to paint their own drippy forest, a flock of swooping toucans, and an alligator sprawled across several spreads. Only the introduction of a banana trap can possibly save the story. The witty text is direct, and the art soars and leaps as much as the animals. Forsythe's digital art features a subtle palette of browns and grays and the characters are rendered in a bold contemporary style with simple broad strokes. In the grand tradition of books that warn children away from reading them, such as John Perry's The Book That Eats People (Tricycle, 2009), this one invites readers into the action. More fun than a barrel of monkeys.-Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Maybe you should put this book back. You don't want to let the monkeys out." As pages are turned, monkeys and other animals appear, and the unseen narrator gets increasingly frantic. All this will be heaven for readers who like meta (the monkeys use paint to create the trees in which they sit) but a bit frenzied for others. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Debut author Lehrhaupt and New York Times Notable Children's Book illustrator Forsythe (My Name Is Elizabeth!, 2011) team up for a laugh-out-loud romp through monkey-infested pages. From the title and the endpapers' warning signs ("I guess you don't mind being mauled by mo___s") to the opening pages' admonishments not to venture further, the narrator repeatedly warns readers not to open this book. Those who do not heed these pleas release a troop of artistic monkeys that wreak havoc on the book itself. Nothing is safe from these wild invaders--not the art and not the text. When the narrator again urges readers to turn back, toucans join the fracas. Forsythe uses the same warm palette for the toucans as the monkeys, adding a nice continuity to an otherwise strange addition that slows down this well-paced story. Before the toucans can do much, an alligator shows up, frightening everyone. With chaos reigning supreme, the narrator turns to readers for help in laying out a plan to snare the animals inside the book. Forsythe's digitally rendered art is hilariously expressive and laugh-worthy in its own right, and it is well-paired with Lehrhaupt's spare comic text, successfully creating a book that is enjoyable both to read and behold. In the tradition of humorous metafictive offerings of the past, this celebration of chaos is a veritable festival of fun. (Picture book. 3-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
