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Summer of the Monkeys Paperback – December 29, 1998
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The last thing fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee expects to find while trekking through the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma is a tree full of monkeys. But then Jay learns from his grandpa that the monkeys have escaped from a traveling circus, and there’s a big reward for the person who finds and returns them.
His family could really use the money, so Jay sets off, determined to catch them. But by the end of the summer, Jay will have learned a lot more than he bargained for—and not just about monkeys.
From the beloved author of Where the Red Fern Grows comes another memorable adventure novel filled with heart, humor, and excitement.
Honors and Praise for Wilson Rawls’ Where the Red Fern Grows:
A School Library Journal Top 100 Children’s Novel
An NPR Must-Read for Kids Ages 9 to 14
Winner of 4 State Awards
Over 7 million copies in print!
“A rewarding book . . . [with] careful, precise observation, all of it rightly phrased.” —The New York Times Book Review
“One of the great classics of children’s literature . . . Any child who doesn’t get to read this beloved and powerfully emotional book has missed out on an important piece of childhood for the last 40-plus years.” —Common Sense Media
“An exciting tale of love and adventure you’ll never forget.” —School Library Journal
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level3 - 7
- Lexile measure810L
- Dimensions5.19 x 0.72 x 7.69 inches
- PublisherYearling
- Publication dateDecember 29, 1998
- ISBN-100440415802
- ISBN-13978-0440415800
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Editorial Reviews
Review
A School Library Journal Top 100 Children’s Novel
An NPR Must-Read for Kids Ages 9 to 14
Winner of 4 State Awards
Over 7 million copies in print!
“A rewarding book . . . [with] careful, precise observation, all of it rightly phrased.” —The New York Times Book Review
“One of the great classics of children’s literature . . . Any child who doesn’t get to read this beloved and powerfully emotional book has missed out on an important piece of childhood for the last 40-plus years.” —Common Sense Media
“An exciting tale of love and adventure you’ll never forget.” —School Library Journal
“A book of unadorned naturalness.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Written with so much feeling and sentiment that adults as well as children are drawn with a passion.” —Arizona Daily Star
“It’s a story about a young boy and his two hunting dogs and . . . I can’t even go on without getting a little misty.” —The Huffington Post
From the Inside Flap
But by the end of the "summer of the monkeys," Jay Berry Lee had learned a lot more than he ever bargained for--and not just about monkeys. He learned about faith, and wishes coming true, and knowing what it is you really want. He even learned a little about growing up . . .
This novel, set in rural Oklahoma around the turn of the century, is a heart-warming family story--full of rich detail and delightful characters--about a time and place when miracles were really the simplest of things...
From the Back Cover
But by the end of the "summer of the monkeys," Jay Berry Lee had learned a lot more than he ever bargained for--and not just about monkeys. He learned about faith, and wishes coming true, and knowing what it is you really want. He even learned a little about growing up . . .
This novel, set in rural Oklahoma around the turn of the century, is a heart-warming family story--full of rich detail and delightful characters--about a time and place when miracles were really the simplest of things...
About the Author
Since its publication more than fifty years ago, Where the Red Fern Grows has assumed the status of a classic and has been made into a widely acclaimed motion picture. Rawls' second novel, Summer of the Monkeys, received rave reviews and won the prestigious California Young Reader Medal Award, among other accolades.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Up until I was fourteen years old, no boy on earth could have been happier. I didn't have a worry in the world. In fact, I was beginning to think that it wasn't going to be hard at all for me to grow up. But just when things were really looking good for me, something happened. I got mixed up with a bunch of monkeys and all of my happiness flew right out the window. Those monkeys all but drove me out of my mind.
If I had kept this monkey trouble to myself, I don't think it would have amounted to much; but I got my grandpa mixed up in it. I felt pretty bad about that because Grandpa was my pal, and all he was trying to do was help me.
I even coaxed Rowdy, my old bluetick hound, into helping me with this monkey trouble. He came out of the mess worse than Grandpa and I did. Rowdy got so disgusted with me, monkeys, and everything in general, he wouldn't even come out from under the house when I called him.
It was in the late 1800s, the best I can remember. Anyhow -- at the time, we were living in a brand-new country that had just been opened up for settlement. The farm we lived on was called Cherokee land because it was smack dab in the middle of the Cherokee Nation. It lay in a strip from the foothills of the Ozark Mountains to the banks of the Illinois River in northeastern Oklahoma. This was the last place in the world that anyone would expect to find a bunch of monkeys.
I wasn't much bigger than a young possum when Mama and Papa settled on the land; but after I grew up a little, Papa told me all about it. How he and Mama hadn't been married very long, and were sharecropping in Missouri. They were unhappy, too; because in those days, being a sharecropper was just about as bad as being a hog thief. Everybody looked down on you.
Mama and Papa were young and proud, and to have people look down on them was
almost more than they could stand. They stayed to themselves, kept on sharecropping,
and saving every dollar they could; hoping that someday they could buy a farm of their
own.
Just when things were looking pretty good for Marna and Papa, something happened.
Mama hauled off and had twins -- my little sister Daisy and me.
Papa said that I was born first, and he never saw a healthier boy. I was as pink as a sunburnt huckleberry, and as lively as a young squirrel in a corncrib. It was different with Daisy though. Somewhere along the line something went wrong and she was born
with her right leg all twisted up.
The doctor said there wasn't much wrong with Daisy's old leg. It had something to do with the muscles, leaders, and things like that, being all tangled up. He said there were doctors in Oklahoma City that could take a crippled leg and straighten it out as straight as a ramrod. This would cost quite a bit of money though; and money was the one thing that Mama and Papa didn't have.
Mama cried a lot in those days, and she prayed a lot, too; but nothing seemed to do any good. It was bad enough to be stuck there on that sharecropper's farm; but to have a little daughter and a twisted leg, and not be able to do anything for her, hurt worst of all.
Then one day, right out of a clear blue sky, Mama got a letter from Grandpa. She read it and her face turned as white as the bark on a sycamore tree. She sat right down on the dirt floor of our sod house and started laughing and crying all at the same time. Papa said that after he had read the letter, it was all he could do to keep from bawling a little, too.
Grandpa and Grandma were living down in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. They owned one of those big old country stores that had everything in it. Grandpa wasn't only a storekeeper; he was a trader, too, and a good one. Papa always said that Grandpa was the only honest trader he ever knew that could trade a terrapin out of its shell.
In his letter, Grandpa told Mama and Papa that he had done some trading with a Cherokee Indian for sixty acres of virgin land, and that it was theirs if they wanted it. All they had to do was come down and make a farm out of it. They could pay him for it any way they wanted to.
Well, the way Mama was carrying on, there wasn't but one thing Papa could do. The next morning, before the roosters started crowing, he took what money they had saved and headed for town. He bought a team of big red Missouri mules and a covered wagon. Then he bought a turning plow, some seed corn, and a milk cow. This took about all the money he had.
It was way in the night when Papa got back home. Mama hadn't even gone to bed. She had everything they owned packed, and was ready to go. They were both so eager to get away from that sharecropping farm that they started loading the wagon by moonlight.
The last thing Papa did was to make a two-baby cradle. He took Mama's old washtub and tied a short piece of rope to each handle. To give the cradle a little bit of bounce, he tied the ropes to two cultivator springs and hung the whole contraption to the bows inside the covered wagon.
Mama thought that old washtub was the best baby cradle she had ever seen. She filled it about half full of corn shucks and quilts, and then put Daisy and me down in it.
After taking one last look at the sod house, Papa cracked the whip and they left Missouri for the Oklahoma Territory.
Product details
- Publisher : Yearling; 37604th edition (December 29, 1998)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0440415802
- ISBN-13 : 978-0440415800
- Reading age : 8 - 12 years, from customers
- Lexile measure : 810L
- Grade level : 3 - 7
- Item Weight : 7.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.19 x 0.72 x 7.69 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #10,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Woodrow Wilson Rawls, (September 24, 1913 – December 16, 1984) was an American writer best known for his books Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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It is an endearing story of sacrifice and love. It would be a great read aloud for middle school children with a life lesson to learn. The ending is heartwarming and I would recommend this book.
One day while searching for Sally Gooden, their runaway milk cow, Jay Berry finds a bunch of monkeys loose in the river bottom. Learning from Grandpa that the animals had escaped from a circus during a train wreck and that a reward was offered for them, Jay Berry sets out to capture them so he can get the money for his pony and rifle. With advice and help from Grandpa, he tries trapping them, but that fails. Next, he tries using a special butterfly net to catch them, but they attack and chase him home. Then he tries to be friendly, but he finds them at a still and they offer him sour mash that gets him drunk. After that, he and Grandpa try using coconuts and a trap cage, but the monkeys steal all the coconuts when they stop to get a drink at a spring. How can Jay Berry capture the monkeys? Will he ever get his pony and .22? Or is there something more important?
Author Wilson Rawls, whose most famous book is Where the Red Fern Grows, grew up on a small farm in the Cherokee Ozarks. We had seen a video of the 1998 Walt Disney film version of Summer of the Monkeys starring Wilford Brimley and Corey Sevier, and liked it. The book is certainly a funny and heartwarming story, not really about monkeys but primarily about Jay Berry's realization of what matters most in life. There are some common euphemisms (darn, heck, golly, and doggone it) and one place where Jay Berry heard some "cuss words" from men at his Grandpa's store, but no actual cuss words are used and Jay Berry says that he never used cuss words. Some might object to the scene where Jay Berry gets drunk, but it is an accident and he gets so sick that he decides never to drink alcohol again! There are references to tobacco use, probably consistent with the setting, but Bible reading and faith in God are an important part of the Lee's family life. And the multi-generational affection is very touching. Jay Berry tells his Grandpa, "Grandpa, we sure have a lot of fun together don't we?" Grandpa replies, "We surely do. You know, an old man like me can teach a young boy like you all the good things in life. But it takes a young boy like you to teach an old man like me to appreciate all the good things of life. I guess that's what life's all about." I found it a truly satisfying book.
Book in a nutshell: Relationship, Life Lessons, Dreams, and Hard Work
The same author who wrote "Where the Red Fern Grows" does it again. When you read this book it makes you feel like you are in the Ozark Mountains. I have added this destination to my bucket list after reading this book.
Below are some quotes that I feel summarize what this book is all about.
Relationships
We can learn a lot from one another. The question is will we take the time to do so? Young or old. We can encourage, equip, and challenge one another to help steer us in the right direction. Imagine if our lives were dedicated to equipping and empowering each other?
"Grandpa smiled and said, 'We surely do. You know, an old man like me can teach a young boy like you all the good things in life. But it takes a young boy like you to teach an old man like me to appreciate all the good things in life. I guess that’s what life’s all about'.”
Working Hard
So much now we as a culture just expect things to happen for us. That is the farthest thing from the truth and the scariest thing that we are teaching our kids. Work hard. Don't give up. When things get tough because they will, keep working.
"I sure do, Papa said, nodding his head. I believe a boy can have anything in life that he wants once he starts working for it. The main thing is not to give up. It makes no difference how tough things get, just bow your back, keep working, and put your heart and soul into it. As you go along your way, live a good clean life, don’t hurt anyone or anything, and always be honest. It doesn’t hurt to pray a little, too."
Dreams and Wishes
I love to dream. I love to make wishes. I love to pray for BIG things. That isn't enough though. We have to help the wish. That is the hardest part but also the best part. It shows and develops your true character.
"But I do believe that any wish you make can come true if you help the wish. I don’t think that the Lord meant for our lives to be so simple and easy that every time we wanted something, all we had to do was wish for it and we’d get it. I don’t believe that at all. If that were true, there would be a lot of lazy people in this old world. No one would be working. Everyone would be wishing for what they needed or wanted.”
This book was a great read. I highly recommend this book for any age. Would be a great book to read as a family.
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Es hat mich damals bezaubert, und heute, nachdem ich nach langem Stöbern die englische Ausgabe gefunden habe, tut es das immer noch.
Es handelt von einer Farmersfamilie in den Ozarks, erzählt aus Sicht des heranwachsenden Jungen der Familie, dessen bester Freund sein Hund ist. Es handelt von Wünschen, von Träumen, wie man sie wohl nur in ganz früher Jugend hat, von Liebe, Verständnis, Akzeptanz, und letztendlich vom Erwachsenwerden. Es ist sehr lustig, ohne albern zu sein, und sehr weise, ohne belehrend zu sein.
Es ist ein Buch, das - zumindest bei mir war es so - lange im Gedächtnis bleibt.



Movie filmed in rural Saskatchewan, now in segments on U-Tube, rather effective ! LD