“A Tale of the Monkey Balloon follows a young girl, Mimi, on an adventure as she searches for her missing monkey balloon. Mimi has an active imagination and the clever premise of the book follows Mimi’s journey as she pursues characters from beloved stories like The Three Little Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood. If you like to read picture books out loud, you are in for a treat since the book is written in the classic oral tradition and Mimi’s questions will invite young children to join in the fun. Written by two highly respected early childhood educators, this highly engaging picture books employs language techniques that are ideal to help young children strengthen their language skills. Be sure to check out the web site, http://themonkeyballoon.com/arts-and-crafts-carryover-activities/. It provides valuable lesson plans, discussion questions and learning activities to use with the book.”
Steve Floyd, President of August House Publishing
“The three creators of this children’s book clearly harbor a loving appreciation for the genre to which they have, with “A Tale of the Monkey Balloon”, contributed. The ritual of reading to our children at bedtime, lulling them to sleep with stories of imaginary worlds, is something which anyone who values creativity knows to be a great gift from parent to child. This book is a celebration of that ritual, and of the dreams and imagination that it feeds.
When little Mimi falls asleep, she travels through dreamscapes of her favorite fairytales, stumbling into the dining room of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, walking a forested path in “Little Red Riding Hood”, climbing atop the leafy perch from “Jack and the Bean Stalk”, and more, all in search of her favorite new toy: a helium monkey balloon that she had acquired and nearly lost to a gust of wind during her waking life that day. Yuki Osada’s artwork brings to technicolor life the imagery from these classic tales, while rendering Mimi and her Papi as black silhouettes–they are, after all, only visitors to these magical places, as are the rest of us.
For parents, “A Tale of the Monkey Balloon” is a delightful romp back to those places we knew so well as children; and a reminder for us to introduce our own kids to the classic tales. For little ones, the bright colors, fun details that carry over from one page to the next, and the repetitive image of the cute monkey balloon, as well as Mimi and her Papi, keep their curious eyes captivated. This sweet book truly is fun for the whole family.”
-Gretchen Suding, Assistant Director of Education, Morean Arts Center, St Petersburg FL