Five little monkeys treasury

Christelow, E. (2009). Five little monkeys storybook treasury. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

ISBN#: 978-0-547-23873-9

In this book I got, it includes 5 full-length picture books from the Five Little Monkeys Series. I will only be working on the “Five Little Monkeys jumping on the bed” story this time. When I have prepared all the necessary materials, those 5 little monkeys can actually be used on all 5 stories!

It’s really suitable for three to five-year old as it’s a colourful picture book with a line on each page. It’s easy to read and it’s very interesting. As the author said in the book, “Booklist described the book as ‘pure silliness-just the kind kids like.’ ” The drawing of the monkeys is cute. They all have different expressions all the time i.e. happy, sad and silly. and their arms and legs are drawn so lively that they seems to be moving in front of you, in front of the children.

Before reading the story to the children, there are several ways to provoke their interest on the story. We could ask them about what they know about monkeys. ‘How do monkeys look like? How do they act? Are they really naughty?’ Then we can put out the monkeys I made or bought and introduce the worldwide known Five Little Monkey rhymes to them before telling the story. When this rhyme is in their mind, they will have a sense of familiarity when the story is read to them afterwards. They might even be able to tell the story themselves.

The 4 ways I am going to use is a felt board story, finger puppet with singing, props story telling or singing and to act out with kids. For the felt board story, a felt board must be used. I will make all the characters (the 5 little monkeys, mama monkey and the doctor) and some other things like bed and phone using the felt; for the finger puppet, I’m planning to make 5 monkeys simply by gluing or sewing felt pieces together and sing the rhyme with them moving the monkeys on my finger. That will be really interesting as children loves to sing along moving finger puppets; for the props, I have already bought 5 monkey stuff toys. I then might decorate them and attach them with strings on a stick. When reading or singing the story, one after another can be removed like what I will be doing with the felt story as well. Other than monkeys, I might make a bed out of cardboard paper and try finding some other props like phone; Last but not least, the most intriguing way to interact with children after getting them familiarize with the story is to act out with them. I will make some monkey hats for them to wear. Ask them to come out and jump around; pretend to fall and have all the children around singing along. That would really be fun.

Lots of things could be wondered while reading the story. On page 14, when the monkeys are putting on their pajamas, I could say “I wonder what your pajamas look like. Is it this colourful?” Then when we are on page 16, 17 of my book, I would say to the children, “I wonder what will happen next to the 5 little monkeys. Will they fall asleep quickly? Or...” Then when it’s on page 18, 19, I would say “I wonder what will happen when the monkeys are jumping on the bed like that.” After reading the last page of the story, I would ask the child, “I wonder what will happen if they get hurt seriously? What will mommy and the doctor feel?” and try to tell them that mommy will be worried if that really happens and the little monkey (the children) should be more considerate about themselves and mommy’s feelings.

There are lots to be extended by this story too. Apart from having 5 stories in one book, the thing I like about this treasury edition is that there’s a page teaching us how to draw those cute little monkeys. I could teach the kid how to draw them. Or photocopy the page for them to colour.  Also, there’s even a piano score of the five little monkey rhyme at the back. I could play the piano for them to sing along. We could even make up some rhymes together using different instruments.

Besides, we could explore facial expressions together by looking at the monkeys drawn in the book. Happy face, sad face, etc. Make paper or stick monkey puppets with them would be fun, with them drawing out their own characterized monkey. Last but not least, monkeys would be a nice topic for them to explore more deeply in, as in how they look like in real life and how they behave etc.

Overall, I really enjoy reading this book myself and I do believe the children will enjoy it with the provocation, the 4 ways I present and the extensions afterwards. I am looking forward to get all my materials done and present it to children I teach in the future.