Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

Rating: Needs Strong Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Late Elementary, Middle School, High School

I tried this one because it was recommended as a funny book in a Christian Parent Book Forum on Social Media. I understand why it was recommended, but I was surprised to find a lot of concerns that might be an issue for your family:

• References to Women being unreasonable or impossible to understand. The grandpa tells Jay not to tell the grandma because she wouldn’t understand hunting and fishing. Jay goes on to say he doesn’t think he’ll ever understand his mom. She’s always worrying and he makes other critiques of her and women in general. (See image below.)
• Alcohol. The moneys find a distillery in the woods and steal alcohol from it. Then they offer it to Jay and get angry when he refuses. They basically bully him into taking the alcohol. He drinks plenty and gets drunk. The monkeys steal his pants when he’s drunk. The next morning he suffers and swears he’ll never drink alcohol again. It’s pretty serious (he throws up and is clearly miserable) but families for which alcoholism is a part of their story might not find this as entertaining as it was meant to be. I have friends who are tormented by alcoholism and I don’t like the idea of a kid getting drunk, even if he was bullied into it by monkeys, so this part really bothers me.
• There’s talk of getting to heaven by climbing a beanstalk instead of by following the golden rule. I think that neither is theologically correct. You get to heaven by faith in the work of Jesus; by grace alone through faith.
• Luck. Jayberry talks about how he believes in bad luck after things like hearing a screech owl at midnight, tripping over a broom, or getting bad luck from a mythical man getting angry at him.
• More superstition/magic: Mushrooms in a right making a magical space called a fairy ring. The parents and the kids all go inside and make a wish. It isn’t just for fun; the parents tell a story about how they believe it really works. At the end of the book he makes another strong statement about how he believes in the power of the fairy ring. See image below.
• Sister with a crippled leg. There’s talk of her being crippled, and Jay has hesitations about getting a horse that’s crippled. It could be sensitive to persons with physical disabilities to hear Jay evaluating the worth of the horse based on its leg.
• Several references to Indians that may or may not be respectful—I just don’t know and am flagging it because I’m curious if any other parents have insights into this. Jay talks about a man named Indian Tom who trades horses with his grandpa. He also refers to Cherokee Indians in several places throughout the book. He says things like “no wonder the Indians thought that professor was crazy.”
• Guns. Jay really wants to buy a gun so that he can hunt.
• Spirit man. There is a man that Jay’s sister sees that they call the Man of the Mountains. He wears a white robe and sandals. He takes care of the animals and he gets mad and curses people who make him angry. At one point Jay and his dad think he is in fact real, but that he’s a spirit and he might be the Spirit of Jesus. Jay’s sister, who has a crippled leg, sees the man when noone else can.
• Mention of the use of a “switch” to whip (hit) a boy with a stick for discipline.
• Tobacco. The grandpa chews tobacco.
• Books for girls. Jay says that books like the little red hen and the three little pigs are for girls. I don’t think that’s true at all and don’t really like this gendered approach to reading classics.
• Thor god of thunder. Jay’s sister teaches him about Norse gods, saying she learned it from a book. There’s prayers and Christianity in the story, but its also got a mix of pagan and magical elements too, like they pick and choose what they believe from many faithviews.
• Mention of his first time seeing a black person. The black man is a railway worker. He is friendly and kind and asks about his dog. Nevertheless, it seemed good to point out that it is mentioned that this was his first time.

I understand why parents who like Where the Red Fern Grows or Little House on the Prairie like this book; it’s a historical fiction of a kid in the Ozarks of Oklahoma and really gives insight into their way of life.

Also, the boy’s attempts to catch the monkeys are full of humor.

However, for me this book needs strong parent supervision. It has references to the bible, but it also has a lot of pagan and other tidbits that conflict with a biblical worldview. In addition, the alcohol episode is portrayed as funny but it could be really dangerous for some families to have such a comic experience with regard to a boy getting drunk.