2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls (1976; 1992 ed.) 283 pages.

READING LEVEL 4.8 AR POINTS 13.0

SETTING: Late 1800’s Oklahoma, in the Ozark’s

There’s a big reward, $2.00 per monkey, and $100 for the chimpanzee, for catching the 30 monkeys who escaped from a circus train that wrecked. This would give 14-year-old Jay Berry Lee enough money to buy some things he’s always wanted: a pony and a .22 rifle.

When you find yourself pausing at the end because you’re bawling your eyes out, I’d say this is a pretty darn good story. Every 5th grade child (or older…I sure enjoyed it) should either read this book or have their parents read it to them. It is a pretty lengthy book worth 13.0 AR points. But, I feel like this is the world we have left behind, and one our kids may never see.

Book-to-Movie

Summer of the Monkeys (1998), starring Corey Sevier as Jay Berry Lee, Katie Stuart as sister Daisy Lee, Michael Ontkean as their father, Leslie Hope as their mother Sarah Lee, and Wilford Brimley as Grandfather.

1/17/2023 - UPDATE:
I watched the movie. Horrible! The first thing you’ll see is Rowdy is not a hound dog in the movie. Nope! It’s some kind of white collie. They don’t hardly follow the storyline from the book, either, and the acting is subpar. Read the book! ( )

At the end of the 19th century, Jay Berry Lee lives with his parents and twin sister on a farm in Oklahoma. Money is tight but life is good. Yes, he has farm chores but much of his time is his own, and Jay Berry roams the area with his faithful hound, Rowdy. A railway accident involving a circus train results in a group of monkeys (plus one chimpanzee) escaping into the river bottom near the Lee farm. These are trained circus performers, and the reward motivates Jay Berry to capture the animals so he can finally get the pony and gun he’s longed for.

This was just a delightful boy-and-his dog adventure tale. I loved the relationship between Jay Berry and his grandpa, as well as the way he interacted with his parents and sister. But the real joy in the book is the way he goes about trying to capture the monkeys. Every fail-safe idea he has results in some disaster or another, some with rather hilarious consequences. But he’s determined, and his heart is in the right place.

I could not help but think of my father and my brothers while reading this. When growing up we spent many hours in the woods, exploring, “hunting,” fishing and just observing nature. I loved those long days outdoors (and some nights as well). ( )

This was one of several excellent books my 5th grade teacher read to us. Definitely a very "boy" book, but an excellent read for everybody. ( )

Overflowing with folksy sentimentality, this is my all-time favorite “boy and his dog” story. The dog doesn't die, and the story has a completely happy ending! Things even come out well for the monkeys. Warm loving family interactions and chock full of mild, wholesome adventures, yet it's not boring. Rawls also wrote the more famous (and famously tragic) “Where the Red Fern Grows,” which was originally published in 1961 but whose sales did not “take off” until the early 70's. I've never understood why that book is so much better known than Summer of the Monkeys – I much prefer stories where the dog doesn't die – but there's no accounting for popular taste.

This was published in 1976, and was a family favorite when I was a kid. Read this week to my mom as part of our “revisiting the old favorites” project and, despite her rapidly increasing weakness from the cancer, she stayed awake and seemed to enjoy it. Given her condition that's quite a commendation for a book. ( )

A young teen boy in the Ozarks in the late 1800's spends his summer trying to capture trained zoo monkeys that escaped from a train wreck. Many misadventures and hilarious happenings are chronicled. There is a big reward for the monkeys and Jay wants a pony and a .22 rifle. He catches the monkeys after a big storm and ends up using the reward money to let his sister have an operation to fix her useless leg. And he gets a pony and rifle in the end anyway.

This was a good feel good YA novel about a simple boy living during a hard time. ( )