Book of the week! Monkey and Me - Emily Gravett

This is an oldie but a goodie on our bookshelf! This book was bought on a trip to visit friends who live by Wales and spotting a cute local bookshop I had to pop in and found this gem in  the children's section.  Shortly after we got home we met up with Grandma and Grandad and they'd bought this Jellycat Monkey as Little Q was really into monkeys at the time. The timing was great as suddenly we had this awesome book and her very own Monkey to have adventures with! 

Basic plot: Little girl has a brilliant day out at the zoo with her Monkey and they meet a fun variety of animals and act out the motions to give you a clue as to what is coming next!  

There are very few words and a lovely repetitive rhythm that makes reading this a pleasure and means that as children get older they can easily pic it up and join in even if they can't actually read it yet as such. 

We had great fun maing up noises for all the animals too - though there was a huge debate between Little Q's Dad and myself over what noise a penguin makes. We still can't agree though I'll admit my sqwark is probably more mumble from happy feet than actual penguin. 

Read before/after Zoo trips this is great prompt for remembering what we have seen or thinking about what we might see when we get there. 

The ending is lovely and sets you up nicely for cuddles and bedtime at the end of a good day out! 

The illustrations are charming and as always with Emily Gravett they are dynamic and fun to look at. Lots of pictures to act out with your little one and the animals have great expressions whilst still looking realistic and recognisable for anyone trying to learn new animals. 

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If you've liked what I've shared you can get the book here:

But please do come back and let me know what you and most importantly your little one's think!

p.s Little Q's monkey is Jelly Cat Mattie Monkey and available here: