Funny Little Monkey

FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY is a hilarious story of the life of Arty Moore, a fourteen-year-old teenager with growth hormone deficiency, hence his childish appearance and towering 4' 2" build. His twin brother, Kurt, however, seemed to get all the "good" genes and the similarity in looks between the two brothers seemed to stop when Arty stopped growing, and Kurt didn't. Kurt loves tormenting Arty. Arty doesn't exactly appreciate the "brotherly love" being sent his way, and so he employs the help of a secret school organization with, frankly, more tricks up their sleeves than the KGB and Stalin's other two secret police, along with the Gestapo, combined into one. With the help of this underground alliance among students at his school, Arty plans revenge against his brother, but his problems are only beginning. What wouldn't complete a great novel without a girl being involved, and yes, there is a girl. Arty is utterly infatuated with new student Leslie Dermott, but he can't quite figure out how got the attention of such a hot girl. Readers join Arty on his road trip to love as well as the pit-stop to the gas station of pain. Extremely clever and hilariously written, Andrew Auseon gives us a character so obnoxious and self-righteous that even though we all know Arty is a complete jackass, we can't help but root him on in his eternal struggle to grow up, both literally and emotionally. Truly, this novel is a story of two brothers and the complex relationship two brothers can have. Along with that, however, throw in confusing situations, smart literary puns that some readers will find intriguing, secret social groups, a Vietnamese kid who is ignorantly named Tibetan by Arty [typical], and the mysterious disappearance of the school mascot statue [a stone turtle], and you get FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY, Andrew Auseon's stellar debut novel and an incredibly funny and very, very, very clever and well-written story. Cheers to A.A. Reviewed by: Long Nguyen

If you like your coffee black and your comedy dark, this book is for you. Definitely not your average teen novel, this first novel by Andrew Auseon percolates with quirky characters, a dysfunctional family, and it makes you ask yourself how far you would go for revenge. If you're Arty Moore, challenged in the height department, the answer is almost over the edge.

Arty Moore is a growth-challenged high schooler who had no friends and lives to be as unnoticeable as possible, especially to his hulk of a twin brother, who torments him endlessly. Towards the end of the school year, Arty makes an unlikely female friend and manages to join the town's misfit underground resistance system. Pulled in several different directions, Arty is offered opportunities for revenge against his brother. Nothing is as simple as it seems, though, and Auseon's novel packs a punch of commentary on family relationships, friendships, and what it means to stick your neck our for another person. This is a nice break from the usual YA fare, and it would make a great book for a reluctant male teen reader.

I feel like I've met the characters in this book at a karaoke bar: they are charming and deplorable; funny and serious; candid and deceitful; and caring and slapdash-ing. But above all, they are provocative and charming. And like a karaoke bar, the novel is so much fun. As an educator, I would especially recommend this book to young adult males--the novel is gritty, lacking the sugar-coated, predictable plots found in some of the more mainstream YA novels (novels that are generally geared to young women.) This Funny Little Monkey had me laughing, snickering, cheering, thinking, and most of all, wanting more!

You can't be vague when you're talking about a little person, and Arty is little. He's 4'2". And Arty is angry. And his twin brother Kurt is Ginormous. And Leslie is a beautiful genius. And Kerouac is a thug. You might think that Arty's just angry cause he's little, you might think a lot of things are the absolute truth, but you'd be wrong. Like in life, nothing is what it seems. There is so much going on in Funny Little Monkey, I say, sit back and enjoy the digging into the beauty layer cake of a tale that Auseon's set down to paper. It's funny as hell, surprising, totally tender and of course, bittersweet. The thing I like best about Andrew Auseon's first novel is that it packs a punch. Go and get it.