Funny Little Monkey [Paperback]

Andrew Auseon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

Meet Arty—a tiny teen with big problems . . . and an even bigger mouth.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ages 14 and up. First time novelist Andrew Auseon brings a fresh voice to this surrealistic comedy that will have teens snickering with recognition despite its deliberate grotesqueries.

Arty, 15, is 4 foot 2. His twin brother Kurt is 6 foot 3. They hate each other with the instant antagonism of a Rottweiler and an alley cat, Arty spewing insults and taunts, and Kurt responding with the massive force of his gorilla hulk. Long ago, when they were ten, they were the same size. Then Arty developed Growth Hormone Deficiency Syndrome, their father stole the family Pontiac and held up a Rite Aid for a case of beer, and their beloved grampa died suddenly in the supermarket. The brothers’ hostility has grown ever since, and it plays out against the black comedy background of Millard Fillmore High School, where the school mascot, a statue of a boxing turtle named Millie, has just been stolen, and a bizarre underground of grungy punks and outcasts hang out in the downstairs tunnel world of the Art Wing.

Arty endures the indignities of his size (a booster seat at school, sneakers from his eight-year-old cousin) but when Kurt gets to be more than he can bear, he accepts an offer of manipulated revenge from the rebel-without-a-cause leader of the underground, the diabolical but strangely sympathetic Kerouac. His organization sets in motion a complicated plan to sabotage Kurt’s love life and blame him for Millie’s theft. In a darkly comic night of pursuit through rain and mud, flashing police lights, and abandoned warehouses the two brothers finally realize the source of their rage and begin to make mutual cause against their gritty world. --Patty Campbell --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. A four-foot two-inch high school freshman narrates this darkly comic debut novel. Arty Moore's diminutive stature and general meekness seem all the more striking when compared with his six-foot one-inch, bullying twin, Kurt. The boys attend Millard Fillmore High, which Arty paints as an institution that amplifies the strangest and most painful aspects of adolescence (bulletins from the school newspaper interrupt the narrative, flaunting over-the-top news and ads: "Work at Southworth Mall—Who needs school? Working is where it's at! Call 555-CASH"). In the twins' tense relationship, Kurt lashes out at his brother physically, Arty verbally. The boys' single mother tries to keep the family together: "Mom used to have the ability to see through Kurt's crap. It came from having married Dad [who].... went on to steal a car and rob a pharmacy.... she's been trying to prevent a rerun with Kurt ever since." Meanwhile, Arty strikes up a friendship with Leslie Dermott, a wealthy, beautiful overachiever, and a kid he nicknames Kerouac, the leader of some rebellious outcasts. At Arty's request, Kerouac's gang torments Kurt, and after Kurt is accused of destroying a statue of the school's mascot, Arty begins to doubt his new friendships—and must face the pain he and his brother have caused each other. The author taps into the painful experience of high school, leavened with healthy doses of hyperbole, hope and wry humor—which Auseon seems to understand just may be the best tools for teenage survival. Ages 14-up. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Graphia (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152054138
• ISBN-13: 978-0152054137
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like a karaoke bar, July 1, 2005

By 

Carmen Brock - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Funny Little Monkey (Hardcover)

I feel like I've met the characters in this book at a karaoke bar: they are charming and deplorable; funny and serious; candid and deceitful; and caring and slapdash-ing. But above all, they are provocative and charming. And like a karaoke bar, the novel is so much fun. As an educator, I would especially recommend this book to young adult males--the novel is gritty, lacking the sugar-coated, predictable plots found in some of the more mainstream YA novels (novels that are generally geared to young women.) This Funny Little Monkey had me laughing, snickering, cheering, thinking, and most of all, wanting more!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, laugh out loud read., May 28, 2005

By 

Cecil Castellucci "seaskull" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Funny Little Monkey (Hardcover)

You can't be vague when you're talking about a little person, and Arty is little. He's 4'2". And Arty is angry. And his twin brother Kurt is Ginormous. And Leslie is a beautiful genius. And Kerouac is a thug. You might think that Arty's just angry cause he's little, you might think a lot of things are the absolute truth, but you'd be wrong. Like in life, nothing is what it seems. There is so much going on in Funny Little Monkey, I say, sit back and enjoy the digging into the beauty layer cake of a tale that Auseon's set down to paper. It's funny as hell, surprising, totally tender and of course, bittersweet. The thing I like best about Andrew Auseon's first novel is that it packs a punch. Go and get it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, November 26, 2006

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funny Little Monkey (Paperback)

FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY is a hilarious story of the life of Arty Moore, a fourteen-year-old teenager with growth hormone deficiency, hence his childish appearance and towering 4' 2" build. His twin brother, Kurt, however, seemed to get all the "good" genes and the similarity in looks between the two brothers seemed to stop when Arty stopped growing, and Kurt didn't.

Kurt loves tormenting Arty. Arty doesn't exactly appreciate the "brotherly love" being sent his way, and so he employs the help of a secret school organization with, frankly, more tricks up their sleeves than the KGB and Stalin's other two secret police, along with the Gestapo, combined into one. With the help of this underground alliance among students at his school, Arty plans revenge against his brother, but his problems are only beginning.

What wouldn't complete a great novel without a girl being involved, and yes, there is a girl. Arty is utterly infatuated with new student Leslie Dermott, but he can't quite figure out how got the attention of such a hot girl. Readers join Arty on his road trip to love as well as the pit-stop to the gas station of pain.

Extremely clever and hilariously written, Andrew Auseon gives us a character so obnoxious and self-righteous that even though we all know Arty is a complete jackass, we can't help but root him on in his eternal struggle to grow up, both literally and emotionally. Truly, this novel is a story of two brothers and the complex relationship two brothers can have.

Along with that, however, throw in confusing situations, smart literary puns that some readers will find intriguing, secret social groups, a Vietnamese kid who is ignorantly named Tibetan by Arty [typical], and the mysterious disappearance of the school mascot statue [a stone turtle], and you get FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY, Andrew Auseon's stellar debut novel and an incredibly funny and very, very, very clever and well-written story. Cheers to A.A.

Reviewed by: Long Nguyen