Monkey & Robot

by Peter Catalanotto, Peter Catalanotto (Illustrator)

Overview

Meet best pals Monkey and Robot. “Good-humored silliness prevails” (Publishers Weekly) in this snappy collection of four stories!

Monkey and Robot are friends—the best kind. They simply belong together, and it never matters that silly Monkey is furry, or that gentle Robot can rust. What matters is their sharing: movies and popcorn, games of hide-and-seek, a fish tank for…a hippopotamus?

Joining the ranks of such noteworthy pairs as Bert and Ernie, Frog and Toad, and Henry and Mudge, Monkey & Robot celebrates friendship in this chapter book of four charming tales that are ideal for young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442429789
Publisher:	Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
Publication date:	01/29/2013
Pages:	58
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Peter Catalanotto has written seventeen books for children, including Monkey & Robot, More of Monkey & Robot, The Newbies, Question Boy Meets Little Miss Know-It-All, Ivan the Terrier, Matthew A.B.C., and Emily’s Art, of which School Library Journal said in a starred review, “whether viewed from afar or up close, this creative and heartfelt book is a masterpiece.” In 2008, First Lady Laura Bush commissioned Peter to illustrate the White House holiday brochure. He currently teaches the first children’s book writing course offered by both Columbia University and Pratt Institute. Peter has illustrated more than thirty books for other writers including George Ella Lyon, Cynthia Rylant, Mary Pope Osborne, Joanne Ryder, Robert Burleigh, and Megan McDonald.

Peter Catalanotto has written seventeen books for children, including Monkey & Robot, More of Monkey & Robot, The Newbies, Question Boy Meets Little Miss Know-It-All, Ivan the Terrier, Matthew A.B.C., and Emily’s Art, of which School Library Journal said in a starred review, “whether viewed from afar or up close, this creative and heartfelt book is a masterpiece.” In 2008, First Lady Laura Bush commissioned Peter to illustrate the White House holiday brochure. He currently teaches the first children’s book writing course offered by both Columbia University and Pratt Institute. Peter has illustrated more than thirty books for other writers including George Ella Lyon, Cynthia Rylant, Mary Pope Osborne, Joanne Ryder, Robert Burleigh, and Megan McDonald.

Read an Excerpt

Monkey & Robot

“Do you want to watch a monster movie?” Robot asked.

“No,” Monkey said. “They scare me.”

“But it’s fun,” Robot said. “I like to be scared.”

“I don’t,” Monkey said. “It’s not fun to be scared. It’s only scary.”

“Let’s try it,” Robot said. “If you get scared, you can put the blanket over your head.”

“Okay,” Monkey said. He put the blanket over his head.

“The movie hasn’t started yet,” Robot said.

“I know,” Monkey said. He took the blanket off his head. “I was just practicing.”

Robot started the movie.

Monkey screamed and put the blanket over his head. “Stop the movie!” he said.

Editorial Reviews

For this beginning reader, Catalanotto (Question Boy Meets Little Miss Know-It-All) writes a quartet of stories about best buddies Monkey and Robot and illustrates them in pencil, using strong lines for his protagonists and soft shading for the backgrounds. It looks, at first, as though Monkey is the fragile one and Robot the guide and counsel. “I know the monster in the movie isn’t real,” says Monkey, in a story about handling fear. “But do you know what is really real?... That I really get really scared at monster movies.” Later, though, it’s Robot who has never played hide-and-seek, and Monkey who must explain the rules. The episodes don’t always stay focused. In a sequence about a cocoon hatching, after Monkey puts a sandwich in a tank with the cocoon, the sandwich pieces disappear in a way that distracts from the story arc. Elsewhere, a board game sequence about winning and losing bogs down in slapstick humor. Yet the passages about the friends’ strong and supportive relationship make the stories worthwhile, and good-humored silliness prevails. Ages 6–9. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

In four stand-alone chapters, sweet, funny vignettes depict a warm, accepting friendship that transcends differences…. Catalanotto employs brief, action-filled sentences and clear, simple dialogue that is accessible to children newly comfortable with independent reading… A fun-filled view of a warm, unlikely friendship.”

"Readers looking for funny friendship stories but who think that Frog and Toad and other early readers are a tad too easy will find this unlikely duo just right."

From the Publisher

Following in the tradition of easy-reader series built around an enduring friendship between two seemingly dissimilar buddies, Catalanotto's new series stars a humanized monkey (looking very like a little boy in a monkey suit) and a smiling robot. In four brief, gentle stories, the two friends watch a scary movie together, roll dice for a game, watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly, and find fun in hide-and-seek. As in most collections of stories, some are bound to be weaker than others. Here "The Game" does not quite work. The storyline is convoluted, as Monkey chases after a die he rolled that has been captured by a dog; Robot's laughter when Monkey falls in the mud feels a bit mean-spirited; and allowing Monkey's score for the game to count as the sum of every number that appears on the die as it bounces along seems far-fetched even for a whimsical narrative. But the other three are uniformly charming, reminiscent in the best way of Lobel's "Frog and Toad" series. The final story, "Hide and Seek," perfectly depicts the joy of the two friends in finding each other after short or long intervals of seeking: "What happens when you find me?" Robot asks. "We hug and laugh and jump up and down," Monkey replies. "That sounds wonderful," Robert says. Indeed, it is wonderful to see small fears respectfully observed, small joys appreciatively documented, and the unlikely friendship of two small beings shared so amusingly and lovingly with young readers. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D.

Children's Literature - Claudia Mills

A really odd couple of friends shares fun and adventure. Monkey is clueless and innocent, while Robot is endlessly kind and patient. In four stand-alone chapters, sweet, funny vignettes depict a warm, accepting friendship that transcends differences. When they watch a monster movie, Robot suggests many diversions to ease Monkey's terror, and his gentle reassurance turns the evening into a great success. A board game also causes some worries; Monkey is convinced to play just for the fun of it. Following a misconception about the singular form of the word "dice" and some antics when a dog runs off with it, the game ends in hilarity. In the final chapters, a cocoon and a game of hide-and-seek lead to more angst for Monkey and happy outcomes thanks to Robot. Catalanotto employs brief, action-filled sentences and clear, simple dialogue that is accessible to children newly comfortable with independent reading. It is formatted in large print with lots of white space and illustrated in black and white with graphite pencil and ink, complementing the text with strong visual clues and carefully conveying the characters' emotions. An odd, unnecessary preface states that the friends met at work and depicts them floating in air in a space capsule, which is probably unrecognizable to the intended audience. A fun-filled view of a warm, unlikely friendship. (Fiction. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews

"Readers looking for funny friendship stories but who think that Frog and Toad and other early readers are a tad too easy will find this unlikely duo just right."

The Horn Book Magazine

09/01/2013
Gr 1–3—On a spread before the title page, Monkey and Robot are pictured floating in a gravity-free spaceship. In the first of four stories, Robot wants to watch a monster movie, but Monkey is scared. His friend advises him to put a blanket over his head and hum when he gets frightened. Armed with these strategies and a bowl of popcorn, he gets through the movie so well that he is ready for another. In "The Game," Monkey insists that he does not like games because he is sad if he loses and sorry for the other person if he wins. Robot convinces him that the fun is in the playing, not in the outcome; an overzealous roll of the die and frisky neighborhood dog result in a good time for all. In "The Cocoon," Robot shows Monkey a stick with a cocoon on the end. "It looks like a tiny sleeping bag," observes his interested, but clueless, friend. When Robot tells him the caterpillar will look different when it breaks out, Monkey imagines that a squirrel, then a raccoon, and finally a bear have emerged thanks to an alluring peanut butter and banana sandwich. In the last story, Monkey introduces Robot to hide-and-seek, more aptly named "hide-and-shriek." The large, generously spaced text is copiously illustrated with comical pencil-and-ink sketches. These silly tales will appeal to novice chapter-book readers.—Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools

School Library Journal