Monkey Business

by J. Otto Seibold, Vivian Walsh

Space Monkey, a former astronaut now involved in big business, must figure out a way to get a tiny bug out of his company's new product. By the authors of Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

American artist and children's book creator. With no formal art training, he was able to sneak into the art world during the "outsider art" craze of the 1990s. His book Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride, published by Viking in 1993, was the first children's picture book to be created with digital media. His 1997 book Olive, the Other Reindeer led to an animated television special of the same name.

His art has been shown at Mass MOCA, Deitch Projects NYC, The Getty LA, Contemporary Jewish Museum SF, Grass Hut Portland, MOCA LA, The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts SF, Gallery Paule Anglim SF, Oakland Museum CA, Juxtapoz Gallery Detroit, and Galerie Impare in Paris. He has done freelance illustration for years including clients such as Nike, Time Warner, Girl Skateboards, Pixar, Comcast, Giant Robot, Target, TiVo, 826 Detroit, Quaker Oats, Fox Entertainment, Gnu Skateboards, Swatch, and Nordstrom.

His book Penguin Dreams was named a New York Times "Best Illustrated Book". Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride won a Cuffie Award from Publisher's Weekly; Mr. Lunch won for most memorable character in a lead role. Going to the Getty won an Art Directors Club Illustration Award. Olive, the Other Reindeer was a New York Times Bestseller and the movie version was nominated for an Emmy Award.

James has three children and resides in Oakland, California.

Reviews

[Amy Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one would be ok for storytime for older kids (1st grade and higher, maybe), but probably not preschool because it's a little longer. The story is...strange. Of course, I love the illustrations.

Here's how I felt while reading:

The story begins with a space monkey.
That's a good start.
Then, he comes back to earth and starts a business.
Ok. I'm still on board.
Then, he's going to make a millionth piece of his product and a truck crashes and a bug almost gets swatted but finds a new house instead.
Huh?
Then there's an accounting error and the monkey lies and the bug is trapped but the man is still free, "He'd always wondered what was in those things," and everyone lived happily ever after. Except the man. We don't know what happens to him.
Oh. Spoiler. Woops.

Now, would kids like it? Yes, I think they probably would. But I don't know if they'd love it.

[Whitney Maas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story itself was rather and drawn out with a random ending, but the illustrations make it worthwhile :)

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space chimp makes good. Well, it's a sight more pleasing than what really happened to the space chimps. fun.

[Carly Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story with great illustrations!