Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car
by Eileen Christelow
2000In Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car, Eileen Christelow captures the hearts of children all over yet again with her infamous risk-taking monkeys and their tale to sell their old family car.
Christelow uses a melodic rhyme in her text that immediately commands the attention of the reader. Once this playful rhyme is established, it becomes fun to guess what’s coming next! For instance, after the little monkeys have repainted the broken-down car in lots of bright colors, they try to move it, but “the monkey who’s steering can’t reach the brake. The car rolls downhill to the...[flip page] BROWN SWAMPY LAKE!” The ellipses before the page turn really builds the excitement for readers, and it becomes a game to predict what the author will say!
The watercolor and pencil images are vivid and bright. Though they are detailed, there’s a bit of a smudgy quality to them, which adds to the feeling of playful chaos featured in the plot. From the first page, you can tell that the monkeys will be plotting throughout the story: each one has a different facial expression on every page, and they each in turn devise grand ideas to accomplish their goals.
This book definitely features the themes of teamwork and strategizing, which are especially rare among siblings. The monkeys show that by working and brainstorming together, they can paint and sell the car, avoid the crocodile’s jaws, convince the beasts to help them move the car, and make their mother happy!
This books seems a like a great read for primary students who need assistance with predicting within a story. The melodic rhyme should also help with reading comprehension. I love how you pulled directly from the text to allow some insight into the structure of the book with the rhyming words. I can see how excitement can build over the course of the story with the vivid illustrations leading the text from page to page.
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