In another adorable story starring Eileen Christelow's mischievous and beloved monkeys, these five silly monkeys go trick-or-treating and fun chaos ensues!
Five little monkeys dress up for Halloween. They’re going trick-or-treating with their favorite babysitter, Lulu. Mama reminds her, “Don’t lose the rascals!” But soon those mischievous monkeys meet other costumed friends and decide to try “the best Halloween trick ever!” Will Lulu be fooled? Or will the five little monkeys get tricked by their own monkey business?
Vibrant, silly, and perfect for reading aloud, this non-scary Halloween story will delight fans of this best-selling series. Includes recipes for “eyeballs” and “worm juice” for kids to try at home.
Five Little Monkeys Trick-or-Treat” is a fun story about five young monkeys who go trick-or-treating with their baby sitter Lulu while Mama waits at home. First, they are dressed as a banana, an alien, a ghost, a princess and a goblin until the alien decides to change costumes with his friend, the bunny.
Eventually all of the children have changed costumes with their friends, and Lulu heads for home with the wrong children. But she knowingly says, “We have to get home for a big Halloween treat,” so they are followed by the original monkeys in their new costumes. After the change artists have been taken inside, the monkeys ring the doorbell and call, “Trick-or-treat, Mama!” She tells them her monkeys are already inside, causing tears to begin to fall, until she opens the door wide and invites them in as well.
Lulu has the perfect treat for tricksters: eyeball cookies and worm juice. Recipes for these specialties are included on the back endpaper.
The author’s humorous pen-and-ink illustrations with digital coloring have a warm, cartoony feel, just right for ages 3-6, and the five monkeys may be familiar characters to readers of the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Edited to add: My son who is now 2, enjoyed this book very much this time around! This book is till fun for Halloween!
I read this to both of the kiddos. The first time I tried to read it, my 2-year old made me stop because she was scared. This time, I just explained to her how the monkeys are in costumes, and it isn’t scary, so she let me read the whole book.
My 2-year old really enjoyed this book when she actually let me read it. She thought it was funny how the monkeys kept switching costumes, and got sad when the mama pretended not to know the monkeys in their new costumes.
This was a cute, fall themed book! I can’t wait to dress up for Halloween! The illustrations are colorful, and my daughter though the story was funny. There’s even recipes for “eyeball” cookies, and worm juice in the back!
This is a great read for toddlers especially with Halloween fast approaching.
These "Five Little Monkeys" books are cute and they are fun to read. BUT they are always into mischief that I feel like some children may try themselves and it wouldn't be so fun. So be aware of that in these books as your child read these. In this one the monkeys are all dressed for trick or treating and their sitter takes them out. but then they decide one at a time to switch costumes with neighbor kids and their sitter never pays attention that they are doing it. So in the end they think they are playing a good trick on her and she takes five of the wrong children home.
The other Five Little Monkeys books haven't done much for me, but I absolutely loved this one. It's the perfect amount of Halloween trickery, and my daughters wanted to read it again and again. The first time through, you could see them guess what was about to happen.
A lot of the reviews worry about this book being appropriate for young children, because the monkeys are up to some mischief. To me though, that's the joy of this type of literature--a story where the unacceptable is possible, a way to channel mischief in a positive way through stories and enjoy possibilities.
Not what I'd like to share in my Halloween preschool storytime. I don't want to give them ideas to switch costumes! I think older kids would get the humor, but also see how this was not such a nice thing to do. Younger might get it, but I don't want to risk it. I leave it out in case someone wants to check it out, and the parent can explain what is good, what isn't, and what is funny.
The mischief in this series can be frustrating and obnoxious. This book made me feel scared and worried about all of the kids who read this book and learned that this is a funny trick. What the monkeys did in this book was so dangerous and could’ve had serious consequences. Adults reading this book with children would have to really explicitly talk about safety during and after reading time so that kids learned the lesson not to do what the monkeys did (unfortunately the book doesn’t teach the lesson well because everyone in the book just ends up laughing it all off and they get away with it).
Totally adorable concept but I would suggest for much older preschool or even school-age. It was difficult to follow and understand for my 3-year-old and I had to explain it to him on every page. I think I would have possibly had difficulty following if it was being read aloud at a storytime instead of a book we shared one-on-one.
This book is really funny and cute, as the monkeys trade costumes with their friends and prank their babysitter, who is doing a head count based on the costumes. I probably won't read this for storytime, since you have to see the illustrations up close to follow the story well and appreciate all of the humor, but it would be fun for a family read-aloud.
It's a typical trick the parent/sitter kind of story. The kids think they're getting away with some great joke when really it's being observed the whole time and it all comes back to get them in the end ... or so they think for a hot second. It's a cute story.
This is a hit with my 4 and 6 year old daughters. I asked my daughter why she likes it and she said "the worm juice". Recipe provided on the back cover.
This is a board book so it's great for toddlers, but maybe a bit too long for toddlers? I did enjoy the story though and the illustrations were alright.
No rhyme scheme like the other five little monkeys books, but repeats many of the same words throughout the story. There are Halloween recipes at the end of the book.