The Turtle and the Monkey

this is the story my tatay (father) used to tell me when i was around 5, but i remember the ending a bit different --- the monkey died and i thought then the moral lesson was bad behavior has a way of getting back at you. in this version, i guess the monkey being alive got away with his bad behavior --- in this aspect, it was disapppointing for me that it didn't have the striking ending that made an impact to me.

Overall, this was a good book with great pictures for children. But the ending did not send a good message for kids. The turtle was kind and correct in his actions, but the monkey essentially gets away with being "real bad." Be prepared to answer questions from your kids about it.

I'm an elementary speech-language specialist and I use this book every year. I am picky in the books I choose to use in therapy, but this story allows for critical thinking, retelling, inferring, predicting..all the things that look for in interactive literature. Kids root for the turtle and love the "villian" characteristics in the monkey! Highly recommended. I have so much fun reading it that my kids can't help but catch the excitement! They all ran to the librarian begging to check out a copy!