As an assignment for a Children’s Literature course, I had written a story about Michael and his monkey puppet, Monkeyin. At that time, as an elementary school Vice-Principal, I shared the story often and the students in one class illustrated its pages. With my recent knowledge and skills in editing, formatting, and self-publishing, I decided to revisit this story and bring it to publication.

 

In real life and in this revived story, from his first hug, Michael carried his Monkeyin with him everywhere. Michael’s family, noticing his fondness for toy monkeys, began buying him another and another until he finally realized he had “too many monkeys” and he gave the five extra monkeys to his friends. His actions highlight the themes of love, gift-giving, and sharing (which is in the subititle of the book), along with generosity, gratitude, family, friendship, and sharing. By allowing his friends to choose the monkey they each wanted, he also demonstrated the importance of having a sense of ownership. This narrative leaves us with the heartwarming feeling that all the monkeys will be loved. The monkeys in the story are “sooo different!” and “just like us!”—which encourages discussions about diversity (being different and embracing difference), equity (being treated fairly), and inclusion (being accepted and valued). With its focus on important themes, I believed it to be worthwhile to be shared again and again. I was excited!