Selznick, Brian and David Serlin. Baby Monkey, Private Eye. Scholastic Press, 2018.
Baby Monkey, Private Eye is written by Brian Selznick and David Serlin. It has earned multiple accolades: it is a Kirkus and Booklist starred review, 2019 Gryphon Award winner, and ALSC 2019 notable children’s book. Baby Monkey, Private Eye tells about the adventures of Baby Monkey solving mysteries. It is targeted for children in preschool through grade 1 (ages 4 – 8 years). This is appropriate because it includes simple sentences, large font, helpful images, and plenty of white space.
The first spread reads “WAIT!,” then introduces the character, Baby Monkey, as a private eye. There is a table of contents with the book sectioned into five chapters. It also includes a key, index, and bibliography. Chapter one is “The Case of the Missing Jewels.” A spread shows a picture of Baby Monkey reading a book on famous missing jewel cases. A woman dressed as an opera star bursts in claiming her jewels were stolen. Baby Monkey looks for clues, writes notes, eats snacks, and eventually, puts on pants. He follows the footprints and finds the zebra has taken the jewels! Chapter two is the “Case of the Missing Pizza.” Again, Baby Monkey looks for clues, writes notes, eats a snack, and eventually gets on his pants. He follows the footprints to find the lion has stolen the pizza! In Chapter 3, he follows the tracks and finds the snake has taken the clown’s nose. Chapter 4 has a bit of a twist. Baby Monkey is asked to find a spaceship. First he naps, then he gets on his pants and follows the footprints to the mouse with the missing spaceship. In the last chapter, a woman comes in looking for her baby. Baby Monkey doesn’t need clues, notes, snacks, or pants. It’s his mother!
A majority of the text in Baby Monkey, Private Eye are Dolch sight words for pre-kindergarten through 1st grade. The non-sight words include character names (e.g, Baby Monkey, Snake), single syllable (e.g., clue, notes, snack), and words with more than one syllable (e.g., private, stolen). The illustrations give meaning to the text. For example, Baby Monkey is shown using a pencil to scribble onto a sheet of paper with text, “Baby Monkey writes notes.” The pictures also highlight the found items in red, which stands out against the black and white sketches. The average number of words per sentence is 4 and ranges from 1 to 8. The sentences are simple. There is an ellipsis in the story which adds suspense.
The book is a fiction book. The book cover shows a black and white sketch of a little monkey with a magnifying glass about its size to give context. Of note, it is a thick easy reader with over 180 pages. Opening the book will reveal very large text and detailed drawings with a variety of mystery cases. The stories should excite many readers and the large, easy to read style coupled with detailed images should draw them into the book. The spreads depict action from Baby Monkey reading in his office, having a visitor who needs help, taking notes, putting on pants, and voila! The case is solved. This action pattern is repeated through the first three chapters. The authors then change it up for the last two chapters, which adds an element of interest and excitement. The illustrations are valuable in giving clues to the story. For example, on the spread when “Baby Monkey eats a snack,” the right side has an image of the monkey eating out of a baggie filled with snap peas, carrots, or apples saying, “Mmm…” They also add humor with several spreads showing Baby Monkey unsuccessfully trying to put on his pants.
Baby Monkey, Private Eye has 192 pages. The font size is about 36-point. Twice, the word WAIT! appears in a font large enough to take up a spread. The line length ranges from 1 – 4 words and averages 1.5 words. The font spacing between words and lines is about 36-point. There are generally 4 lines of text per page; it ranges from 1 – 5. There is a good amount of white space for the reader’s eyes to rest.
There is not an image on every page. Most frequently, the text is on the left and the image is on the right. There are spreads of images interspersed throughout the story (e.g., Baby Monkey taking a nap before looking for the spaceship). The art is realistically sketched and full of details. They are shown in black and white with occasional pops of color, specifically red.
Baby Monkey, Private Eye is an ideal summer reading list recommendation because children can take their time to read the words, explore the images, and use their bookmarks. At first, new readers may be intimidated by the size of the book, but it offers them the opportunity to read a book that looks like an adult book. This can be exciting and provide a sense of accomplishment when finished.
Book Notes 