Customer Reviews

Bringing Up Ziggy: Lessons from a Helping Hands Monkey Mom

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This book presents refreshing insight into the dedication and commitment necessary to raise a non-human primate (a capuchin monkey) for the Helping Hands Program (a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for quadriplegic individuals by training capuchin monkeys to assist them with daily activities) located in Boston, MA. Ms Campbell relates her journey with Ziggy, a female capuchin monkey, from infancy adoption to adulthood. The delights of raising a baby, the trials of adolescence and the compassion needed to understand the intricacy of maturity are all described with comprehensive detail.

The tantalizing prospect of living with one of our closet relatives is quickly dispelled as infant antics turn into potential difficulties. Each member of this family must learn their place in Ziggy's world. And, indeed, each member is quickly placed in a particular category, according to Ziggy's personal hierarchy. Ms Campbell weighs the pros and cons of having accepted the responsibility of foster caring this incredible creature. She holds back nothing in describing what it is like to share her home with a monkey. Controversy abounds in regards to some of the necessary procedures and Ms. Campbell presents them astutely. She interjects facts about these incredible creatures among the personal account of her life with Ziggy.

The accomplishments of Ms. Campbell and her human family, in learning to understand who Ziggy is, along with Ziggy's own accomplishments, makes for an engaging narrative. Several black & white photos enhance this account of one woman's devotion to her diminutive charge and her beliefs in the benefits proposed by the Helping Hands Program. It is a must read for anyone who has contemplated life with a non-human primate. Having raised a capuchin monkey from infancy to adulthood myself, I can speak from experience and highly recommend this book.

BRINGING UP ZIGGY IS SUCH A DELIGHTFUL TALE, OR IN THIS CASE, IT COULD BE TAIL. THE HEROINE OF THE BOOK, ZIGGY, HAS A TAIL,THAT FUNCTIONS INDEPENDENTLY OF HER. THE STORY TAKES THE READER BY THE HEART AND LEADS THROUGH THE LIFE OF A BLACK CAP CAPUCHIN MONKEY-GIRL AND HER HUMAN FOSTER FAMILY. WHILE BEING A WONDERFULLY ENTERTAINING TRUE STORY, IT IS ALSO VERY EDUCATIONAL AND FACTUAL. HELPING HANDS MONKEYS ARE GIFTS FROM GOD TO PEOPLE WHO ARE QUADRIPLEGIC. FROM THE BIRTH OF THE BABY MONKEY TO THE TIME IT IS READY TO BE A HELPING HAND IS A FASCINATING AND MOVING TRIP. READ THIS BOOK AND PREPARE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE CAMPBELLS AND THE LITTLE ZIGSTER.

Andrea Campbell's book, Bringing Up Ziggy, is a heartwarming and inspiring book. Campbell describes rasing a monkey as a foster parent for the Helping Hands Program. The Helping Hands Program provides quadriplegics with trained monkeys to assist in their daily care. Campbell explains the love, commitment, and sacrifice needed. For most people, it would be hard to imagine such an undertaking or how amazing the amount of knowledge that a human can learn from an adorable capuchin.

This book is one that the reader will not be able to put down once the reading has begun. Bringing Up Ziggy offers animal behavior facts, adventure, and comedy from cover to cover. Campbell shares her knowledge with the reader on living a life with a monkey in the home. The book tells about the rewards of being a foster parent in the Helping Hands Program.

I would recommend this book to anyone considering adding a monkey to their household. Bringing Up Ziggy will help the readers to understand the love, commitment, and sacrifice that is needed in raising a monkey in the home. Most of all, the book will enlighten the reader to the richness, love and joy the monkeys bring to the people they live with.

Andrea Campbell's book, Bringing Up Ziggy, portrays a realistic and honest picture of life with a monkey, and the commitment needed to foster a primate for the Helping Hands program.

Can you imagine living 30 years in a wheelchair unable to move your arms or legs? Quadriplegics can live an average lifespan of 60 to 65 years. Simple tasks such as getting a drink, or turning the pages of a book eludes them. Inspired by the Helping Hands program that breeds and trains capuchin monkeys to assist quadriplegics, and seeing first-hand the quality-of-life that a capuchin-assistant adds to a quadriplegic's life, Andrea Campbell became a foster-parent in 1989.

The book supplies information on raising an infant capuchin, offers emotional details of dealing with the hierarchy of troop mentality within a family unit, and in general, is a study in animal behavior.

Campbell's story is one of inspiration, love, and dedication. An entertaining, true adventure, "Bringing Up Ziggy," is sure to tug on the heartstrings of all who read it.

Great job! Being a monkey owner myself (6 capuchins from age 3 up to 30) I found this book to be great! It tells of what a pet capuchin is capable of doing and Ziggy's goal is a great one! If my monkeys were as well behaved as Ziggy, maybe I could find time to write a book! Hahaha! You have done great with the book and Ziggy. The chapter about her attempts to escape from her cage sure did bring back memories! Thanks Andrea, this is a book that will remain in my monkey library. It was informative, easy to read and very descriptive of what it is like to be a monkeymom. I have told all my fellow monkey owners about it and my friends who raise Helping Hands monkeys.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to spend time with a monkey as part of your family -- or even if the thought has never occurred to you -- you may find, as I did, that you learned a lot from this book about what makes capuchins tick, how similar to little kids they can be, and how easy it is to form a strong bond across the species line. Campbell, with her clear and direct writing, has done a fine job of letting us know what's involved in raising a monkey that's destined to be a helper to the handicapped. She includes lots of specific details that are, in a strange way, rather poignant.

If you like photos, you will be disappointed with the fuzzy, poor quality black and whites at the end of the book. The author's degree is in criminal justice, and perhaps she should remain in that field. This book has short, choppy paragraphs and a "messy" chronology, going backward and forward through time in a confusing manner. The book lacks "tone" as if the author cannot decide whether she wants to be scientific or humorous. Worse, the science is not objective and the humor is not funny. The author describes what is going on in Ziggy's head as if it's factual(for instance, if the monkey hates or harbors resentment). Save your money. This is not a good one.