Monkeys Shine: Eileen Christelow's Five Little Monkeys

There are several versions of the old nursery song about the five little monkeys with the slow learning curve (who one by one disobey mom and jump on the bed and bump their heads), but by far the best of the bunch (no pun intended) is Eileen Christelow's version. Available as a hardback picture book (shown above), as a must-have board version, as Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (Board Book), and even in Spanish version, as Cinco Monitos Brincando en la Cama, this little book, with its lilting rhyming verse and illustrations which hilariously extend the text, is well on its way to being a must-have classic of early childhood. And if your vocal cords weary of singing the song in the car, there's an audio version, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (Audio CD) which will keep the miles bouncing by in the back seat!

But wait. There's MORE! Christelow has added sequels Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree, Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do, Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake, and Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car. In the latter the five monkeys try to help Mama sell her old junker by creating a snazzy paint job, but when the car rolls into the swamp, one little monkey comes up with a clever trick to keep the crew from becoming crocodile crunchies.

Christelow's Five Little Monkeys series has already become must-have classics for early childhood. These little books, with their simple, rhythmic texts extended by hilarious detailed illustrations, provide many entertaining opportunities for learning rhyme, rhythm, predicting, and using your head sensibly in the adventures of daily life.