about the book
What’s going on? I thought we would get to count funny monkeys in this book!
But on the first page there are just monkey tails scurrying off the page, and all I see is one very big cobra!
So if I turn the page, will I find the monkeys? What!!!! Now the Cobra is gone and there are two mongooses! Or is that two mongeese! Which is right?
The monkey’s have got to be on the next page, right? Nope, you’ll never guess what I found!
Page after page, there are no monkeys. There are, however, three rollicking crocodiles with canes, four messy and munching grizzly bears, six sweet old bee keepers, eight lumberjacks with hairy faces and plaid shirts, and even ten rhinoceroses with bad breath playing bagpipes.
No monkeys! They’ve got to be here somewhere!
about the author
Born to non-farmers in a California farming community, Mac Barnett loved school… except for the nine times tables!
As a kid, he wanted to be a detective, but was never hired. He tried to solve the case of the haunted house located next door to his…but it really was haunted!
Mac’s literary career began when he was hired as a cover model for a series of Christian- based adventures. More interested in the writing than the modeling aspect, he earned a Master of Fine Arts from The New School.
His ideas come to him while he traveling—or in the shower. Since Mac found out he is allergic to fingerprinting dust, he can’t be a detective—and writes instead about kid detectives. Each night in his home in Berkeley, California, home, he sits at the kitchen table, typing away. He usually becomes totally focused around midnight and writes until he falls asleep on his laptop!
Mac has been very involved in Guys Read, which promotes literacy to boys, and in the 826LA after-school writing center program, which helps to support and improve the writing skills of children and teens.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Fox River Valley Public Library
Author interview: W. H. Beck
Also by Mac Bernett:
President Taft Is Stuck in the Bath. Candlewick Press. March 2014.
Chloe and the Lion. Hyperion Press. 2012.
Oh No! Not Again! : (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History) (Or at Least My History Grade). Hyperion Press. 2012.
Extra Yarn. Balzer + Bray. 2012.
Mustache! Hyperion Press. 2011.
Oh No! : Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World. Hyperion Press. 2010.
Guess Again! Simon & Schuster. 2009.
Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem. Hyperion Press. 2009.
about the illustrator
Kevin Cornell’s illustrations are hilarious, especially his animals. Where does he get his imagination?
Kevin can’t stand fart jokes or political jokes or jokes about Hollywood stars. He likes jokes about things that everyone experiences. He thinks jokes about animals are the best. In the pages of Marc Barnett’s picture boo,k Count the Monkeys, you’ll find a lot of very funny animal hijinks that Kevin created.
Kevin is an illustrator/designer who works and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Don’t let his website (http://www.v5.bearskinrug.co.uk/contact.php) confuse you; it says co.uk, but he really isn’t British. He says he spends the majority of his time maintaining his website, but he also spends a great deal of time dueling with other designers in web games and drafting imaginary treaties for equally imaginary conflicts. He is also a staff illustrator for the company A List Apart, which is all about designing websites and writing online.
It’s also rumored that he is highly allergic to cashews, but that may be another of Kevin’s jokes.
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator biography: A List Apart
Also illustrated by Kevin Cornell:
Shark Kiss, Octopus Hug by Lynn Rowe Reed. Balzer + Bray. June 2014.
Mustache! by Mac Barnett. Hyperion Press. 2011.
read more!
Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett
One day, little Chloe gets lost in a forest and is attacked by a great big—dragon? But the title says Chloe and the Lion. It turns out that the book’s author and illustrator don’t agree which would be cooler—a dragon or a lion—so Adam just drew a dragon anyway. They fight while Chloe looks on, still lost in the woods. She might become the hero of her own story!
One Pup’s Up by Marsha Wilson Chall
Mama dog is all tuckered out and all her pups are finally asleep, except for one little pup who is up. This little roly-poly mutt wakes up each of his black, brown, tan, white, and spotted brothers and sisters, one by one. The puppies spring into action, causing all sorts of chaos. After a snack, the exhausted pooches settle down one by one to snooze…until one little pup wakes up…again!
Let’s Count Goats! by Mem Fox
Hilarious couplets invite young readers to count all sizes and shapes of personality-plus goats as they go about their silly slapstick shenanigans.