ALA Booklist (Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2003)

Humans Mom and Dad tuck their 26 little monkeys into bed and blithely step out for the evening. With one monkey for each letter of the alphabet, this book catalogs all the ways the kids find to make trouble. There's Andy making paper airplanes from ripped-out book pages, Brooke bonking her head, Carla gorging on chocolate cake, Danny swinging on the drape, etc. Scolded for their misdeeds, the next day the monkeys, demurely dressed in baby-blue sailor suits and pink dresses, are taken to visit the zoo. The idea of picturing the kids as monkeys and the parents as human is a bit bizarre, but children will probably accept it. Every child feels like a mischievous monkey from time to time, longing to break the rules with cheerful abandon. Cole imaginatively expresses that impulse in the large-scale, comical paintings, while Aylesworth's rhyming text bounces along merrily. A natural for reading aloud to the alphabet set.

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2004)

Chaos abounds as twenty-six naughty monkeys stir up trouble in alphabetically named order when their (human) parents go out. The mischief begins with Andy's paper airplanes and continues boisterously through Yates's yo-yos, until the beleaguered parents put the monkeys back into bed to rest for a next-day zoo visit. Zany, rollicking illustrations add to the fun and help to counterbalance the sometimes-awkward rhymes.

Kirkus Reviews

Exuberantly naughty monkeys abound in this energetic alphabet book. The rhyming text begins as the human parents of the 26 young monkeys head out for the evening. Each monkey makes trouble, starting with one tossing a paper airplane, the next jumping on the bed, sneaking chocolate cake, and so on. The words representing the letters of the alphabet (airplane, bed, cake, etc.) are in bold, colored type, helping those just learning their letters. The full-bleed illustrations in deep, vibrant colors are a riotous activity of monkey mischief; the comic rhymes add appropriate narration. Anyone who's ever been naughty will recognize the emotion conveyed on the monkey's little faces as they hide under the covers when their parents get home: being naughty was SO much fun, but now they're a little worried about the consequences. Not to fear, they simply go off to the zoo in the morning, just as young readers go to school. (Picture book. 4-6)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

When Mom and Dad head out for their night on the town, will their "angelic" little monkeys behave? Not likely. First, there are as many of them as there are letters of the alphabet; second, as Cole (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Sissy Duckling) imagines them, the offspring of these stylish human parents really are primates—which means Danny is particularly adroit at "Swinging on the <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">drape" and Ike can hold three dripping <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">ice cream cones at once—one in each hand and one in his prehensile tail. (The appropriate capital letter introduces the key word in each act of mayhem, and Cole works into the paintings the alphabetically corresponding name of each offending monkey, which readers can spot on pajamas and other personal items). Aylesworth's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">One Crow: A Counting Rhyme) literal-minded quatrains seldom leap off the page: "Naughty little monkey,/ Under Mom's umbrella./ It's far too big and heavy/ For such a little fella." But Cole's work exudes his signature sassy exuberance from the "A" of Andy's paper <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">airplane to the closing trip to the <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">zoo, where the chastened monkeys are on their best behavior, sporting dresses and sailor suits, and lined up in alphabetical order. These 26 siblings' mischievous élan will doubtless inspire monkeyshines on the part of readers. Ages 3-7. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Aug.)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Aylesworth relates a tale of mischief told through the letters of the alphabet in four lines of rhymed verse. Twenty-six naughty little monkeys engage in wild antics when their human parents unwisely leave them alone one evening. Andy flies paper airplanes, Brooke jumps on the bed, and Carla eats chocolate cake. Their behavior grows steadily more boisterous as Xavier bangs his xylophone and Yates breaks a street lamp with his yo-yo. The parents arrive home in time to send the monkeys to bed and seemingly threaten to send them away. However, on the last page, the whole family is shown on an outing at the zoo. Many of the verses are fun and clever, but others read awkwardly. The exuberant illustrations override the flaws in the text. On full-page spreads of various rooms in the house, Cole vividly sets the stage for the expressively animated creatures to wreak havoc. While this is not a core title, such as Aylesworth's similarly mischievous Old Black Fly (Holt, 1995) or Eileen Christelow's Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (Clarion, 1989), it will provide reading-aloud pleasure.-Rachel G. Payne, New York Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.