Looking for the Easy Life - Hardcover

Myers, Walter Dean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060543752 ISBN 13: 9780060543754

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011

Synopsis

Life's pretty good on Monkey Island. All day long, the monkeys sit around talking their monkey talk and enjoying their big-time monkey dreams.

That is, except Oswego Pete, who is one slick monkey.

He's bent on finding the Easy Life—a place where a monkey never has to bend all out of shape for a banana, or do any hard work, ever.

Is it where the high grass grows at the foot of the mountain?

Or down by the seaside?

Uh-Huh Freddie, the Chief Monkey, says easy isn't always good, and a little hard work's not always bad.

Who's right?

You will learn how to find the Easy Life in this witty adventure from popular author Walter Dean Myers and artist Lee Harper.

About this title

About the Author:

Walter Dean Myers was the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award; a former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature; and an inaugural NYC Literary Honoree. Myers received every single major award in the field of children's literature. He was the author of two Newbery Honor Books and six Coretta Scott King Awardees. He was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, a three-time National Book Award Finalist, as well as the first-ever recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Lee Harper is an illustrator, and sometimes author-illustrator, of a flock of picture books. He still likes going to school, but nowadays when he goes to school it’s as a visiting author. He drives there in a regular car but wishes he could get there on a hay wagon like Woolbur. Learn more about Lee Harper’s books and school visits at www.leeharperart.com.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 2-4-The monkeys on Monkey Island think they have it pretty good until Oswego Pete says he's looking to lead an "Easy Life." All he wants to do is lay back and relax. Uh-Huh Freddie, their leader, can see where this is going but when all the other monkeys agree with Oswego Pete, they set off to find another part of the island to find the Easy Life. On their way they come upon a lion who decides they would make a great dinner and after tousling with him, Oswego Pete ends up losing some of his tail. The lion won't give it back because he worked hard for it. And so it goes as they encounter a shark and some hip-hop hippos. By the end, the monkeys realize that working hard is not such a bad thing and they abandon their quest for a cushy life. This Aesop-like tale is written in African-American dialect, and Myers's turns of phrase are as funny as can be. It will make a great read-aloud. In case children miss the lesson, Uh-Huh Freddie sums it all up at the end of the story. The illustrations are cartoony and as silly as the monkeys in their colorful attire.-Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0060543752
• ISBN 13: 9780060543754
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Harper Lee