Funny Little Monkey by Andrew Auseon

by Andrew Auseon

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Although he is tiny in stature, Arty is large in his presence and won't let anyone push him around, not even his larger, bullying twin brother, in a coming of age tale about a teen who does the best with what he has been given.

Genres: Young Adult, Teen, Fiction, Humor

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Andrew Auseon is a writer of novels for young people, and a designer of video games. He holds a B.A. from Ohio University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from the prestigious Vermont College.

He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife, Sarah Zogby, and their two daughters.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I waffled between two and three stars and in the end decided to give it two stars because while the plotline was offbeat and kept me reading, I never really bonded with the main character, Arty. And since he is the voice of the book, that is a problem.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Off-beat story of Arty, a 4'2" 14-year-old high school student with a twin brother, Kurt, who is 6'2". Yes, his twin. While Arty is trying to stay under the radar at school, beautifully rich and mysterious Leslie takes an interest in him. To add to this luck, the leader of the band of misfits also decides to help him out by putting into action a seriously intricate and cruel trick on Arty's abusive brother.

While not everything may not be as it seems, there is a lot going on here with manipulations, stoken mascots, and growth hormone shots. I feel like a more poignant book could have been written if there had been more attention on a few topics, as opposed to little attention to a lot of topics.

Not really recommended.

[Heather Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it because the author had attended a writing college in VT & so I wanted to see how this first book was. WELL, it was boring & took me forever to finish. I had to see it to the end because in the middle I didn't see it going anywhere at all. This book is in the HS I work at & really should be MS.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Long Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY is a hilarious story of the life of Arty Moore, a fourteen-year-old teenager with growth hormone deficiency, hence his childish appearance and towering 4' 2" build. His twin brother, Kurt, however, seemed to get all the "good" genes and the similarity in looks between the two brothers seemed to stop when Arty stopped growing, and Kurt didn't.

Kurt loves tormenting Arty. Arty doesn't exactly appreciate the "brotherly love" being sent his way, and so he employs the help of a secret school organization with, frankly, more tricks up their sleeves than the KGB and Stalin's other two secret police, along with the Gestapo, combined into one. With the help of this underground alliance among students at his school, Arty plans revenge against his brother, but his problems are only beginning.

What wouldn't complete a great novel without a girl being involved, and yes, there is a girl. Arty is utterly infatuated with new student Leslie Dermott, but he can't quite figure out how got the attention of such a hot girl. Readers join Arty on his road trip to love as well as the pit-stop to the gas station of pain.

Extremely clever and hilariously written, Andrew Auseon gives us a character so obnoxious and self-righteous that even though we all know Arty is a complete jackass, we can't help but root him on in his eternal struggle to grow up, both literally and emotionally. Truly, this novel is a story of two brothers and the complex relationship two brothers can have.

Along with that, however, throw in confusing situations, smart literary puns that some readers will find intriguing, secret social groups, a Vietnamese kid who is ignorantly named Tibetan by Arty [typical], and the mysterious disappearance of the school mascot statue [a stone turtle], and you get FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY, Andrew Auseon's stellar debut novel and an incredibly funny and very, very, very clever and well-written story.

Cheers to A.A.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should preface these notes by saying that I'm not at all unbiased on this book. I work with the guy who wrote it, and he's a mensch.

To begin with a vague digression, there was really excellent article in the New Yorker... or the Times Magazine... or somewhere a few years ago about how much more alive and healthy Young Adult or "YA" lit is than the stuff being written for adults. You could point to Pullman or of course Rowling or others, but F.L.M. is as good an example as any of this assertion.

Funny Little Monkey is a great take on the unexploited topic of sibling relatinships - maybe the best I've read since The Kite Runner, which I adored. In this case, it's a tale of fraternal twins, the focal point of a wonderful, quiet symbolism that runs through the book.

The story is told in what a back-of-book blurb might call a quirky and original voice; the prosy (and YA-accessible!) writing has a charm to it and worked very effectively, I thought, to bring the reader closer to the actually quirky, genuinely original characters who tussle through the arc of the plot.

Finally, I think an extra mote of praise needs to be heaped on Mr. Auseon for steering clear of a by now cliched Stand By Me style coming of age story, without discarding the rudiments of the well-told tale, high point and resolution and the rest.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Arty is beat up by Kurt one time too many, he seeks out the "outcasts" who form the secret underground at the school to get revenge on his brother. The revenge plot is rather intriguing and impressively pulled off by the underground, who know—and document—pretty much all there is to know about each student at Millard Fillmore.

I wasn't overly impressed with the book. It was a bit slow to get to the initial problem. There were probably more subplots than necessary. I think I would have liked them better had they contributed more fully to character development. But they didn't.

Perhaps the one thing I see to recommend the book is the voice. The voice is strong and distinctive. I personally don't like Arty, but the author does a great job in giving him his own voice and letting him carry through with that voice.

[Willie Bruchey · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Funny Little Monkey there is a kid named Arty Moore and he is smaller than everyone else in his grade and everyone that is his age because he has a birth defect that has stunted his growth. Arty gets made fun of all the time in school and he doesn’t have very many friends because of his size and nobody will accept him. His brother especially makes fun of him because he is a lot bigger than Arty and he beats him up all the time. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes the realistic fiction stories and I think that most anyone would like it because Andrew Auseon really makes the story come to life.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA author to watch out for. Humorous and a little over the top but also extremely believable. The main character has to traverse issues from his growth hormone deficiency, avoid his felon-in-the-making normal-sized twin brother, and survive his first romance with the selfish, pretentious new girl.

[John Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ... what did I learn? It reminded me to think about how being bullied -- being treated unkindly -- can warp people ... how it changes the way you see the world, how you relate to the world ... and how those distortions become so much a part of your worldview, that you don't even recognize them. Something like that. The funny little monkey, c'est moi.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was something unsatisfying about this; I can't quite put my finger on it. The narrative voice was alright, but there was a lot going on in here that seemed strained and improbable and trying to be overly clever. I dunno. Meh.

[Kennedy Elmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy that doesn't like the school he goes to and doesn't like his life but then starts liking his life and start making friends. This book was really fun to read and it had some funny parts.I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to laugh while reading a book.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

title:Funny Little Monkey
Author:Andrew Auseon

This book was about a boy who was trying to find his way through ninth grade and in the end he learns that he doesn't have to be tall to be cool. This book was overall a good read, I would recommend this book to someone who wants to laugh.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duh ... a BRILLIANT book by an emerging talent who is sure to take the world by storm in 2008 with his next book "Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot."

[Shawn Goodman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poor man's Cormier. Very close to The Chocolate War in many ways. I wanted to like this book, but... couldn't.

[Sara Hoofnagle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love YA and this is a good one, complete with the high school 'freak' crowd essentially ruling the world. A fast read.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast read. I give it a B. The author seemed to me to be trying a little too hard to be "zany".

[Teen]

Being only 4 feet 2 inches tall creates plenty of problems for Arty, even without regular beatings from his sadistic older brother. But now he has a plan for revenge.

[Sue]

I don't know this book was on my to-read list. There ARE a number of excellent "young adult" novels, but this seems just ordinary. It's not even "young adult," but more "middle school."

[Catherine Mustread]

Arty, an abnormally short fourteen-year-old boy, enlists the help of a group of students, known at school as the "pathetic losers," to take revenge against his abusive, tall fraternal twin brother.

[Tyler Schmalenberger]

very god book there no movie to it but ther should be read and you will like it i did read with class

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have been great as a graphic novel. Can't you just see Arte's notebook with his funny little doodles?

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish it. Couldn' hold my attention.

[Cookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird, but good.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda weird story...but really good...ish....

[Jacob Hess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad! A nice YA book about finding yourself and what truly makes you happy. I enjoyed some of it more than other parts, but overall it was an entertaining quick read.

[Amanda Nan Dillon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard for me to find the environment and situations in the boom believable, but definitely a good book about bullying and how it affects the tortured.

[Mimi Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biting sarcasm and a main character you both love and want to dislike. This is a powerhouse story that takes the reader on a wild ride of emotions. EXCELLENT!

[Nawaf79]

ok

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced little book. I enjoyed reading it. Had a nice message about bullying/using others and not respecting them as people. Humorous, fun, quick read.