3 out of 4 stars
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The Absurd Adventures of Monkey, Puppy, and Lion: The Day of the Flying Potroast, is a fictitious tale written for children by Nick Stockton. This story is about a boy named Pete who is 9 years old, and his “pets” which include a monkey, a puppy, and a lion that live in Pete’s treehouse in his yard. It tells about one of the adventures they have while they are home alone because Pete is at school and his parents are at work.
Stockton sets up the background for this story by explaining how the animals are able to enter Pete’s house when Pete and his parents are out, and how they are able to get themselves into trouble trying to use the humans’ things. The adventures could probably never actually happen, but Stockton puts in enough realistic descriptions that it makes it easy to imagine what is taking place. For example, according to the story, “Monkey would start first by getting the spare key under the door. The Monkey sat on the back of Lion to reach the door knob and turn the key. Between the three of them, they could figure out simple things… They have watched the humans do it so many times so they simply repeat their actions.” The tale is told in a way that a young child would easily understand. The author’s use of imagination and humor makes the story enjoyable. The action is carried along nicely with dialogue and comes to a good resolution of the problems that arise in the pets’ adventures.
There are some learning experiences in this story that a child can take away from reading this tale. One example of this is where Monkey dials 911 to order pizza and, of course, gets into trouble with the police. A child can learn from that how the 911 number is a special number that should not be played around with.
I think this is a good story for children because there is plenty of action told in a way that would hold a child’s attention for the duration of the story. Stockton uses age appropriate language, but with some vocabulary that would be challenging for a young reader. This higher level vocabulary can encourage conversations between a child and an adult who may be reading this story with the child, and also might encourage a child to use a dictionary if that child is reading the book on their own.
This book has some errors that should be corrected with a little more editing. There are places in the story where it switches between past tense and present tense, sometimes within the same sentence. There are also a few sentences with missing words or wrong words. Also, a few drawings or pictures might be added to give a younger child something to break up all the printing.
I would rate this story 3 out of 4 stars, mostly because of the editing that needs to be done. I would recommend this book for reading to preschool and elementary age children, and also to children who are able read on their own, especially children with pets, or who have no pets but would like one. It has action, learning opportunities and lessons, and is told with imagination and a sense of humor.
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The Absurb Adventures of Monkey, Puppy, and Lion
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