Monkey Mo Goes to Sea by Diane Goode

Book Genre: General fiction

Publishing Information: The Blue Sky Press, 30 pages

Summary: Monkey Mo gets into a lot of trouble on a sea adventure. The monkey's owner a little boy Bertie gets a letter from his grandfather to come and join him for lunch on a cruise boat. In the letter grandfather reminds Mo that he needs to act like a gentlemen. There were a lot of gentlemen on the boat for Mo to act like, but he picked out a guy in a yellow scarf. Mo tried really hard to be a gentlemen, but it did not seem to work. He tried to help a lady in her chair but she fell on the floor instead. He tried to make conversation, but he swung from a chandelier instead. He tried to dance with two women at the same time, but all this just made everyone agry with Mo. Bertie's grandfather finally made him leave the party. When Mo went out on the deck he saw the man with the yellow scarf fall overboard. Mo jumped in and saved the man. Everyone was happy with Mo again and grandfather was proud.

Personal Rating: ***Good This book has a great message for younger children!

Reading Level: 2.4

Interest Level: K-2

Integration: In science this book could be used in a unit about transportation. The pictures are great to show what a cruise ship looks like. The teacher could read this book and have the children discuss the difference between small ships and big ships. The teacher could talk about the different uses of big ships and how this ship is used for cruises. They can also talk about all the different types of areas found on the big cruise ships. The teacher can also talk about safety, because the man with the yellow scarf walks on the rails and falls overboard in the book. This would not be appropriate behavior on a cruise ship.
In social studies the book could be used to talk about the history of ships and how things have changed over the years.
In writing students could write a story about being on a boat and what happens.


Potential Problems: The only problem that I see is that the man with the yellow scarf walks on the rails of the boat. This could teach children that it is ok to not follow rules.