Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

With a lot of imagination and some creative contortions, a little girl pretends that she and her adored stuffed monkey fit right in with tribes of penguins, kangaroos, bats, elephants and... monkeys. A catchy refrain sets up each scenario: “Monkey and me,/ Monkey and me,/ Monkey and me,/ We went to see....” Readers can take a moment to guess which species the feisty pigtailed narrator, a Pippi Longstocking in the making, is miming before a turn of the page shows the relevant animals at their antic best. To evoke a mama kangaroo and her joey, for example, the girl stuffs Monkey under her shirt; to become an elephant, she bends at the waist, makes one of her arms a trunk and turns the other into a prehensile tail that pulls Monkey-as-calf behind her. Working in pencil and watercolor, with a palette limited to red, black and brown, Gravett (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Orange Pear Apple Bear) portrays the action in a series of exuberant spot sketches set against a white sweep. This approach not only gives the pictures the momentum and spontaneity of roughed-out animation, it also provides readers with step-by-step instruction for recreating at least some of the fun in their own homes. A final spread has girl and toy going “zzzzzzzz”—but the game has not ended: a real monkey watches them, a huge and contagious grin on his face. Ages 2-6. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

PreS-Gr 1 A delightful and energetic story, illustrated in muted reds, soft browns, and pale grays. A child, dressed in rumpled red tights, a gray skirt, and a red-and-white striped T-shirt, plays with her long-limbed stuffed monkey. The repetitive refrain, "Monkey and me,/Monkey and me,/Monkey and me,/We went to see,/We went to see some" is accompanied by the little girl and her toy imitating five different animals that appear on the following spread. She waddles like a penguin, hops like a kangaroo, hangs upside down like a bat, lumbers along like an elephant, and swings like a monkey, before finally wearing down. The text's buoyancy and changes in font size enhance the visual appeal. Monkey's body language and facial expressions, reminiscent of Pippo in Helen Oxenbury's "Tom and Pippo" stories (S & S), add humor to the sweet tale of a ????child using her imagination in active play. This charming and engaging book will have children repeating the words and anticipating the animals to come. Perfect for one-on-one sharing or with storytime groups. Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI

ALA Booklist (Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2008)

A little girl and her stuffed animal, a monkey, cavort as she imagines and imitates a series of wild animals. The girl's actions as she pretends to be each new beast can give rise to a guessing game for children, resolved when a turn of the page shows the actual animal mimicked: "Monkey and me, /  Monkey and me, / Monkey and me, / We went to see, / We went to see some . . . /  ELEPHANTS!" The rhythmic, patterned text reads aloud exceptionally well, though the story's ending is a bit of a letdown. Still, the spare, expressive pencil drawings are charming, and the restrained use of watercolor washes heightens their effectiveness. This upbeat picture book has great read-aloud potential for responsive listening and extended play in storytimes.

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Three fairies must find a magic wand to save Never Land from a mermaid-issued flood. This might sound promising, but it's impossible to keep the countless characters straight (familiarity with this book's predecessor, Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, seems essential). Quirky writing (the fairies finish each other's sentences) and a whiplash-inducing roving point of view stoke the chaos.

Kirkus Reviews

"Monkey and me, / Monkey and me, / Monkey and me, / We went to see, / We went to see some . . . / PENGUINS!" An ebullient little girl plays with her toy monkey, imagining visits to penguins, kangaroos and monkeys, of course, among others in this joyous tribute to the preschooler's imagination. The bouncy text never varies, except for the payoff line, which is set up by a spread of the two friends' playing at animal imitations. Gravett's smudgy pencil-and-watercolor vignettes feature a ponytailed little girl in a skirt and Velcro sneakers, her rumpled red tights and red-and-white striped shirt (which flops down, revealing her belly button as she hangs upside-down like a bat) the only bright spots in otherwise gray-and-sepia sketches. The broadly smiling tot needs no more color, her complete absorption in her play rendered with happy abandon. These vignettes dance across the lead-in spread; turn the page, and "BATS!" flap, "ELEPHANTS!" clomp. Playfully set typography finishes off this fizzy offering, which is perfectly in tune with the way a child's imagination and a beloved toy are all the ingredients needed for happiness. (Picture book. 3-6)