title: Monkey's Clever Tale (Traditional Tales With a Twist)
author: Andrew Fusek Peters
description: Kindergarten-Grade 3-Ameerah Monkey spies a river and is curious about what is on the other side, but she is terrified of water. Devising a plan, she paints her tail black, wraps it around her waist, and pretends that it is a belt. She tells Crocodile that her tail is drying out on the other side of the river and promises to give it to him if he takes her across. Fusek-Peters stretches this trickster tale beyond necessary length. He also creates a hiccup in logic when the monkey mentions midstream that she keeps her savings in the Opposite Bank, and the crocodile's motivation is switched from food to money, a tactic that doesn't quite fit with the mostly naturalistic setting. Done in a vivid palette and making use of varying perspectives, the cartoon artwork surpasses the text. From Ameerah's behind-the-ear hibiscus blossom to her expression of waterlogged panic, Montgomery-Higham's illustrations perfectly capture the mischievous character of the heroine. All in all, an uneven effort that is not in the same ballpark as Paul Galdone's The Monkey and the Crocodile (Clarion, 1987).<BR><I>Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA</I><BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: ![](Images/image00055.jpeg)
  
  **The Mystery in the Mall**
  
   **Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner**
  
   **Illustrated by Charles Tang**
  
   **ALBERT WHITMAN & Company, Chicago**
  
   **Contents**
  
  Chapter 1 Monkey in the Middle
  
  Chapter 2 A Mixed-Up Day
  
  Chapter 3 Look Who’s Minding the Store
  
  Chapter 4 Monkey See, Monkey Do
  
  Chapter 5 Benny’s Good Idea
  
  Chapter 6 Locked In
  
  Chapter 7 Sent Away
  
  Chapter 8 Locked Out
  
  Chapter 9 Benny Sneezes
  
  Chapter 10 Monkey Business
  
  About the Author
  
   **CHAPTER 1**
  
   _ **Monkey in the Middle**_
  
  At a rest stop by the side of a road, the Alden family sat around a picnic
  table. In the middle of the table, next to their picnic basket, sat a coconut.
  This was not an ordinary coconut but one painted to look just like a monkey.
  Six-year-old Benny Alden had carried it all the way back from Hawaii on
  another family trip. Now the coconut monkey went with him everywhere.
  
  When lunch was over, Benny picked up his coconut by its rope handle. He shook
  it to hear the rat