Monkey on the Run

by Leo Timmers

Papa Monkey and Little Monkey are on their way. But the street is very busy and they are moving so slowly! Little Monkey loses patience and jumps onto the fire engine. Up the ladder from there and he joins a TV crew! Then the garbage truck, an aquarium bus, a food cart for rabbits packed with carroty treats, Arctic animals traveling by snow globe, a jewel thief's getaway car . . .

There is so much going on in the street, it's become a playground!

Each vehicle in this wordless picture book contains a world of detail, activity and humor to share with curious toddlers. A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Transport, Humor, Childrens, Travel, International

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Leo Timmers was born in 1970, in Belgium. Trained in Graphic Design he began to illustrate Children’s books. Gradually he started writing stories himself. In 2000 he received a Bookfeather Award for his illustrations in 'Happy with me'. He won the annual Children’s and Youth jury Award in both 2005 with ‘Just in time’ (written by Bart Demyttenaere) and 2006 with ‘Supermouse’.In 2007 he won with his picture book ‘Who is driving?' His books have been published in France, Spain, Norway, Finland, USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Korea, UK, Israel, Portugal, Germany and Japan. Leo also illustrates for magazines such as HUMO and various advertising agenciesOver the years his style has evolved, but it has always been marked by humour, form, colour, and incisive ideas. Leo lives in Brussels with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful illustrations full of goings on. You could read it over and over making up a different story each time. No text, it's all up to you!

[Gert De Bie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wisten jullie al dat we fan zijn van Leo Timmers? ;)

Aap op straat is een woordeloos maar rijk prentenboek met heerlijke tekeningen.

Vader en zoon zijn met de brommer op weg naar huis, maar 't kleintje kan niet stilzitten en duikt de file in. Als lezer/kijker ga je mee op reis tussen de fantasierijke voertuigen, vol andere dieren en speelse details (op de brandweerwagen zijn de brandweerslagen échte slangen) in een fantasierijk ontdekkingsboek met heerlijke details en veel humor.

Kijken blijven kijken, aanwijs- en vertelpret gegarandeerd!

[Ria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een oblong prentenboek voor de jonge kijklezers wil ik even delen. Verrassend leuk.

Vader en zoon aap zijn onderweg.
Het is druk. Er is file.
Zoontje is ongeduldig - of beter: nieuwsgierig. Hij gaat via allerlei voertuigen en inzittende dieren naar het begin van deze fantasievolle rij vervoersmiddelen vol met ontdekkingen.

Kleurrijk, verrassend, met humor, gedetailleerd - de octobus, de ambulance of de stoomlocomotief, er is zóveel te zien en te ontdekken!

Om steeds opnieuw op te pakken en nieuwe details te ontdekken en te benoemen.

[Winnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bij de kleuters kan je het als een praatplaat gebruiken (taal, rekenen, vervoer....)

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little monkey "on the run," accompanied by its Dad, runs, skips, and hops its way along all sorts of diggers and trucks, sweepers and buses, taxis and trains, in an effort to get home with a special gift for Mom. Love the bright, whimsical, collage-style illustrations- everything from a moose sharing gelato with the monkey, to bunny rabbits selling fast food at the "Carrot King," to an "Octobus" driven by a bespectacled octopus and filled with fish and sea life. And it's a wordless picture book, too, so readers can fill in the gaps with their vibrant, expansive imaginations! So far, my favorite from the 2019 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books list.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een ontzettend leuk prentenboek zonder tekst voor peuters en kleuters. Papa aap en kleine Aap zijn onderweg, maar kleine Aap besluit vast vooruit te gaan. Veel verschillende soorten auto’s en dieren en iedereen lijkt onderweg nog wat anders te doen.
Voor het een kind een zeer leuk boek, omdat het kind zelf een verhaal erbij kan verzinnen. Een goed boek voor de fantasie van het kind.
Een prentenboek heeft dus niet per se tekst nodig als er mooie en grappige illustraties zijn die genoeg kunnen vertellen.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wordless picture book. A monkey child gets out of their parent's sidecar and starts climbing on all the other cars. Fun, playful and detailed illustrations give lots of opportunity to embellish the story.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully detailed illustrations in this zany, wordless story about a determined monkey not letting a traffuic jam keep him from getting home. Originally published in The Netherlands.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Papa Monkey and Little Monkey are on their way home, but traffic is moving to slow for Little Monkey, so he decides to try and hasten the trip home. This wordless book tells the story visually with all the pictures and events that are happening in the snarling and congested traffic.

[Jean Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been pleasantly surprised by this wordless picture book by Leo Timmers, an author-illustrator published in the Netherlands. Sometimes picture books can go by very fast when you're "reading" them to children. Or, if you want to linger over the artwork while your children clamor for you to "turn the page," you have to invent a narrative to hold their interest.

Not so with Monkey on the Run .

We sat and poured over each page for a good long while, longer than, dare I say, picture books with plenty of text to keep us on the page. This is because Leo Timmers is a master of composition. Each spread is carefully arranged in colors and lines so that the eye is drawn into an "entry point," some attention-grabbing piece of visual candy that stands out above the rest. From this entry point, he then masterfully guides the reader's eye up and down, sideways and across, as though leading the viewer by the hand.

How does he achieve this? Through fanciful and charming depictions of animal characters doing something - drinking from a straw (that is long and winding and if your eye follows it, you'll find a surprise at the end of it), filming something with a camera set (which begs your eye to see what the character is filming), clothes on a line being moved through a drying-and-folding assembly.

He also manages to tell a story through all of the seemingly random illustrations of animals riding on unusual vehicles doing fascinating things. How? A young monkey exploring the world by car-hopping through a traffic jam, experiences all the variety that life has to offer as he passes through the various activities each car is engaged in.

It's a beautiful book, masterfully designed and skillfully laid out. My children adored it and reread it several times, lingering and laughing because of the humor and delight delivered within these intelligent pages.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this wordless picture book, Papa Monkey and his little monkey are heading home from school in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The two of them are aboard his banana-cycle with a sidecar for little monkey. But from the beginning, the little one is engaging with the other vehicles along the way. He leaps on to a firetruck that is fighting a fire on another vehicle while driving. He takes a piece of cake from a royal car with a mobile kitchen and waiters. He munches the cake in the crow’s nest of a boat with wheels. He dodges a rooster after seeing a police chase. He dangles above an ambulance, gets ice cream from an ice cream truck, and ends up with a perfect wrapped present for his mother along the way.

Timmers’ traffic filled with inventive vehicles will remind readers of Richard Scarry’s Busy Town. This art though is much more modern and the interaction between the vehicles is more robust. There is a lovely logic to each vehicle, a little story being told to the reader who slows down to explore each one. The bustle and rush of the traffic would seem to make a fast-paced book, but this is one to linger over and enjoy following the adventures of a little monkey through the wildness of the different modes of transportation.

If you have a little one obsessed with vehicles, the humor and wonder here is sure to entice them. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Youngsters will need to read this wordless picture book a couple of times to understand what's happening, but after they do so, they will enjoy it quite a lot. A monkey is traveling home or perhaps to a birthday party in a sidecar. But a traffic jam causes him to have to enlist Herculean efforts and creative thinking in order to reach his ultimate destination. Youngsters will get a kick out of seeing him clamor over vehicles and pass by various animal drivers and passengers on his journey. The incredibly detailed illustrations contain all sorts of visual delights, including an orange truck from which hippos are sipping juice, an elephant being transported in an ambulance, a bull whose horns serve as a rack for stolen jewelry treasures collected by a couple of magpies. When he finally arrives, that's one grateful adult waiting for him. Readers will notice something new each time they read this one. The title might lead readers to expect something very different from what they find here.

[Yvon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grappig boek zonder tekst voor jonge kinderen over een aap die bij zijn vader achter in de auto zit. Er is een lange file en het aapje springt steeds op een auto of wagen die ervoor rijdt. Alle soorten winkels e.d. die je in een stad tegenkomt rijden nu over de bladzijdes heen. Je kunt op elke bladzijde het aapje terugvinden. Steeds zie je hierin ook iets terug wat op de vorige bladzijde te zien was. Bijv. het bolletje ijs dat het aapje aan het eten was. Uiteindelijk beland het aapje weer in zijn vaders auto en rijden ze naar huis waar mama aap al op hen wacht. Er is erg veel te zien wat druk kan overkomen. Aan de andere kant is er ook veel te zien waardoor het boek meerdere keren bekeken kan worden.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little monkey swings from the car it was in with an adult and then cavorts over a number of other wild and zany vehicles on the road before returning to the car and arriving at what appears to be home with a gift for mom.

Well, at least that's my best guess as to what was going on. There are no words, and the illustrations are so wild and crazy that it would be easy to interpret this a number of different ways. Littles with loads of imaginations can feel free to make up their own super imaginative story to go with these creative illustrations of some of the wildest vehicles you've ever seen. (I mean, one spread appears to have a group of badgers launching themselves out of a cannon on one vehicle over a tow truck carrying onto a badger pyramid on the truck being towed, for example.)

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This worlds beauty is an international hit, with good reasons. Little monkey and his pop head out in their banana-themed vehicle, launching a journey of a thousand smiles, clues, visual narratives, animal encounters, ecosystems, and other intriguing investigations that could take a child (or adult) countless repetitions to discover. Little monkey's opening escape is moe than just monkeying around, with an adventure on every page, surprises in even the tiniest details (even font choices and roadside flora), so that the satisfying conclusion leaves you wanting to start the journey all over again.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good wordless book, and this one fills the bill. Monkey and his father are trying to get home, but there is a massive traffic backup. The little monkey leaves his banana mobile and has a fine old time climbing on all the different types of vehicles in front of him. The colorful, clever illustrations on each page are a store of their own. An Octomobile! It’s a mobile aquarium leading the way in front of a rolling movie theater of sorts. A dog van, a juice truck with straws, an aviary. A laundromat a fast food - there are several vehicles on each page kids will be fascinated. There is so much to talk about, write about, draw about, and design. Awesome book!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. There is so much to look at in this wonderful wordless book about a young monkey’s adventures as the romps his way through the most interesting traffic jam ever. Like a Ricard Scary book this is the kind of open ended story I child can look at again and again - finding new details each time. My only disappointment was the spread where monkey is unaware he is leaping right into a bunch of cactus and yet the set up never pays off. Turn the page and it is as if they never were there.

[robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I don't write a lot of reviews, but I have to say this book left me jangled. It is waaaay too manic for me and I didn't understand the point. I think I get that the young monkey escapes from the older monkey (presumably Dad) but after that, all bets are off, til the end where young monkey has a gift for older female monkey (presumably Mom). There was just too much going on for me to make heads nor tails of anything. Maybe that was the intent and, if so, winner, I guess...

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published by Em Querido's Ultgeverij, Amsterdam, the Netherlands under the title Aap op straat, 2018.

An inquisitive monkey has fantastical adventures on the way home. Reminiscent of Richard Scarry -- for the 21st century. Such an amazing variety of details in this unusual conveyances with various animal drivers: a fire engine with snakes for hoses, a garbage truck with mice/rats? feasting on the scraps and peels, a watery "Octobus" full of sea creatures and so much more!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a couple runs to get what was going on. The richly colored and detailed art grabs your attention to such a degree that you realize partway in you don't know what the story is supposed to be. And when you discover it, and how Timmers weaves the narrative from spread to spread, leaving clues that enhance and explain the events within the spreads, you will be utterly delighted.

[Gps · Rating 3 out of 5]

fine illustrations, but just too much going on.

I presume that if you slowed down and tried to focus on all the activity it might be of interest, but much too involved for a young audience, and I assume that a toddler or kindergartener audience is the intended listener.

then again, no words, so you can make up the story as you go along.

[Cara Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot to look at in this wordless picture book featuring two monkeys trying to get home and a barrage of other animals in their way. I'm thinking more and more about monkeys , with Edi Campbell's important research (https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=The-...)

[charlene.librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like in so many other wordless gems, the illustration is rich with detail and action to follow along. The energetic little monkey is on the run after various antics. Many, many animal friends (and strangers) are either cheering him on or exasperated by his mischief. How would you like to eat a cupcake fit for a king in the lookout nest of a pirate's ship? So much bright fun.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

To us, this book was a cute and wordless look & find. That little mischevious monkey went just about everywhere through the traffic to get a present for momma monkey. How sweet! There's alot going on in the illustrations but they are all so detailed.

[Amanda Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great gazing book that promotes eye movement from left to right. I would recommend this book as a shower gift for a baby or any pre-literate birthday. Older readers will enjoy it for it's humor. I suspect if I spent more time with it, I would find for value in it. Either way I enjoyed it.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A monkey dad and his child get caught in a terrible traffic jam - but no worries! The little monkey scampers out and finds a way.

I absolutely loved this book! No one does crazy vehicles like Leo Timmers ;-)

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great wordless picture book showing a monkey running in a souped up version of Richard Scarry's Busytown. From the moment little monkey jumped off of his dad's banana motorcycle to the moment he left his dirty shorts on the raccoons' laundry train I was enchanted.

[Veronique Pauwels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prentenboek zonder woorden. Prachtige tekeningen die je loodsen tot aan de laatste bladzijde ! Om dan nog eens te herbeginnen... 😍

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a LOT going on in the illustrations of this wordless book. Take your time, make up your own story.