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Summer of the Monkeys

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 5,444 ratings · 533 reviews

Jay Berry Lee is happy until the summer he is 14 years old and discovers monkeys living in the creek bottoms near his parents' homestead. Set in the late 1800s, Summer of the Monkeys traces the boy's adventures as he attempts to capture 29 monkeys that have (it turns out) escaped from the circus. With somewhat dubious help from his grandfather, and over the objections of h...more

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Published January 1st 1992 by Bantam Books (first published 1977)

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Sep 26, 2011 April Hochstrasser rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Set in the late 1800's, this is a story about a young boy named Jay Berry and his run in with a troop of monkeys that have gotten loose in the woods near his home. He tries everything under the sun to capture the monkeys because there is a big reward. The monkeys seem to be able to outwit him at every turn, that is until the night of the big storm.

The author, who also wrote "Where the Red Fern Grows", knows how to keep interest alive. Jay Berry and his loyal dog, Rowdy, learn something about mo...more

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Sep 01, 2011 nymfaux added it · review of another edition

From my blog: (\__/)nymfaux

Summer of the Monkeys was just as I had hoped, something both new and familiar.

It tells the story of a young boy, Jay Berry Lee, who lives in the Ozarks with his parents, his twin sister Daisy, and a bluetick hound named Rowdy. The only thing that would make Jay Berry any happier would be to have a gun and a pony. And one day when Jay Berry is off exploring in the woods, he comes across a sight he never could have imagined—Trees filled with monkeys—which is where Jay B...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Gale rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: southern-usa-milieu, kid-and-relatives

"Can You Help a Wish?”

Wilson Rawls (author of the country classic, WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS) has done it again in this delightful tale of a poor family from rural Oklahoma in the early 1900’s. Fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee lives through incredible events--surviving a roller coaster of emotions as he comes of age over one unforgettable summer, near the river bottoms in former Cherokee territory.

Much more than a kid-and-his dog story this book will make you chuckle and groan with frustration...more

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May 31, 2009 Brandon Willard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The genre of this book is fiction. I choose this book because it sounded pretty good. Jay Berry Lee lives with his Mom, Dad, and sister in Oklahoma Cherokee Ozark. It takes place during the 1800's. His Grandma and Grandpa live there too. His Grandpa owns a store in Cherokee Ozark. Jay lives on a farm and has a dog named Rowdy. One day he was in the bottoms and Rowdy treed a monkey which Jay had never seen a monkey in the bottoms before. Jay told his family about the monkey. His grandpa told him...more

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Feb 10, 2011 Doug Cannon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My kids really enjoy this book. It seems to hit all ages pretty well. I am enjoying it again, and my youngest two (who were bored while reading Seventh Son) are now really enjoying this book. Even my oldest kids enjoy listening in.

Wilson Rawls is a great story teller, and he writes a lot of situations in this book that make the kids laugh out loud. The suspense is great too. The kids hate it when a chapter ends and we might be done for the night. "read on!" they all say.

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Apr 26, 2011 Brianaustin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lately I've been reading the kinds of books where the author seems to think that anything that can go wrong should go wrong. They're almost predictably unpredictable, where I've found myself waiting to turn the next page to read about the next horrible thing. Summer of the Monkeys is not like that, but I still had this anxiety the whole way through the book that something catastrophically horrible was going to happen. I don't want to ruin the book if you plan to read it (I do recommend it), but...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Stef Milenewicz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I bought this book to read to my 10 year old son. I didnt realize this book would become one of my favorites! I laughed so hard I cried, and I cried so hard I laughed!! Yes my sweet oldest son loved making fun of me! This book is such a wonderful story about a boy that is from a poor family, he goes on an adventure with his dog catching monkeys that got loose from the circus. His relationship with his family is such a great story all in itself, and will make you remember special times with your...more

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Jul 28, 2010 Shauna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Summer of the Monkeys is one of my all time favorite books. The time period is in the late 1800's. It is about a 14 year old boy named Jay Berry who lives in the Ozark mountains. His life is full of adventure exploring in the river bottoms. His life is flipped upside down when he finds monkeys in the river bottoms. A train wreck allowed the monkeys to escape from the circus. There is a very large reward for the capture of the monkeys. Jay Berry sets out to capture these monkeys and get enough to...more Summer of the Monkeys is one of my all time favorite books. The time period is in the late 1800's. It is about a 14 year old boy named Jay Berry who lives in the Ozark mountains. His life is full of adventure exploring in the river bottoms. His life is flipped upside down when he finds monkeys in the river bottoms. A train wreck allowed the monkeys to escape from the circus. There is a very large reward for the capture of the monkeys. Jay Berry sets out to capture these monkeys and get enough to buy a pony and a 22 rifle, his lifelong dream. His adventures are hilarious as he goes about trying to catch these monkeys. Daisy, Jay Berry's twin sister who has a crippled leg from birth is one of the main characters. She is kind and loving. She loves all the animals in the woods and doctors anyting that need is, including Jay Berry and his dog, Rowdy. Jay Berry's parents are poor people and don't have the money to get Daisy's leg fixed. One of my favorite passages from the book is right after Daisy finds a fairy ring and they all make a wish. Jay Berry asks his dad if he believes the wishes they made at the fairy ring will come true. His dad says:

" Son, that's a pretty hard question to answer. But I do beleive that any wish you make can come true if you help the wish. I don't think that the Lord meant for our lives to be so simple and easy that every time we wanted something, all we had to do was wish for it and we'd get it. I don't beleive that at all. If that were true, there would be alot of lazy people in this old world. No one would be working. Everyone would be wishing for what they needed or wanted.
"Papa," I asked, "how can you help a wish?"
"Oh, there are alot of ways," Papa said. "Hard work, faith, patience, and determination. I think prayer and really believing in your wish can help more than anything else."

This book is filled with endearing characters. Jay Berry's Grandpa, Daisy and his mother and father and Rowdy, Jay berry's dog.
This book is about family and what matters most in this life. I would highly recommend this book to all ages. I am kind of sad that I just finished reading this book to my youngest child. They all have loved it!(less)

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Apr 05, 2008 Michele rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Disney ruined this book when they made it into a movie. The novel is vastly different and so much better. A great read aloud that will have you both laughing and crying. I like this book much better than, Where the Red Fern Grows, which the author is more known for.

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Apr 08, 2012 April Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary, pre-teen, fiction

What ages would I recommend it too? – Eight and up.

Length? – A two to three day read.

Characters? – Memorable, five main human characters, a dog, and a pack of monkeys.

Setting? – Semi realistic, Oklahoma, 1800's.

Written approximately? – 1976.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.

Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Yes. The front cover flap states "set in rural Oklahoma around the turn of the century". Wrong century. Also, since this...more What ages would I recommend it too? – Eight and up.

Length? – A two to three day read.

Characters? – Memorable, five main human characters, a dog, and a pack of monkeys.

Setting? – Semi realistic, Oklahoma, 1800's.

Written approximately? – 1976.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.

Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Yes. The front cover flap states "set in rural Oklahoma around the turn of the century". Wrong century. Also, since this is set so far back, at first we think it is before motor vehicles, until the truck arrives to pick up the monkeys. Maybe a bit more clarification on that opening flap. Today's young readers would want to know first, where the insurance and disability services are, and why social services haven't forced the family to find a way to help the sister.

Short storyline: An active young boy has a sister with a crippled leg. He finds a way to make money to get the horse and gun he wants. It simply involves capturing a pack of escaped monkeys. He has a lot fun, and tears, trying to do so. In the end, they come willingly, and return to the circus they escaped from. The boy's grandfather brings two ponies for him to choose. He, and his faithful dog, choose the crippled pony, who also chooses him. Then, he changes his mind, and gives the money to his parents, along with his grandparents money to take his sister to get her leg fixed.

Notes for the reader: A beautiful story! It will clean out your sinuses.

Notes for writers reading the story: Yes, the author has the sister address her brother with his first and middle name every time she speaks to him, slightly annoying, and yet, most of the time when she does it, it would naturally be that way. Yes, the tense is frequently an out of style tense. The author will use "was listening" instead of "listened." Personally, "was listening" to me, means I am in the characters mind, and going along with them. To use "listened" to me distances me. It reminds me someone is telling me something that happened in the past. Of course, I am working to use the currently popular distancing technique of "listened" over the up close and personal in the now, "was listening" in my works so they can be published.(less)

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May 04, 2011 Karen Sloan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My husband's Aunt Pansy recommended this book to me 15 years ago. It is amazing!! It is full of life lessons, compassion, empathy, more life lessons, and tons of humor!! My copy of the book has been read by my mom, dad, mother-in-law, father-in-law, traveled to Minnesota with a friend of my in-laws where it was read by two people and then mailed back to me. I read it aloud to my daughter's third grade class. Two of my children dressed as the main characters for their book reports in middle schoo...more

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May 30, 2012 Kade Cummings rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Summer of the Monkeys By: Wilson Rawls Summer of the monkeys was about this boy that loved adventures. so one day he was going down by the river bank and looked up and there was a tree full of monkeys. and so he told his grandpa (Bestfriend) that he needed to catch them for the reward money. so the whole book he is trying ways to catch the monkeys and thats what the story is based off of. But then he realized more then catching them for money and actually learned a leason through all of this in...more

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Nov 08, 2010 Rachel M rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Summer of the Monkeys had its moments of some comedy, but other than that it was just about a boy trying to catch some monkeys for a reward. When Daisy would yell about what Jay did or got into, it made me feel like telling her to be quiet because she didn’t have to be yelling like that. When Jay was trying to catch the monkeys and Jimbo would outsmart him, Jimbo would laugh causing Jay to get really mad at the monkey and make him feel like shooting Jimbo because he was ruining everything. J...more

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Jan 28, 2010 Molly Jae rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hands down, this is one of the best books I've ever read. I don't know why I've never read it before and neither have any of my children. Thomas came home from school last week and said he had started it in class. Then I went to a RS night on children's literature and one of my girlfriends there also recommended it. I picked it up and read it in just 3 short sessions, and loved it. This book will make an excellent read aloud with children at about the age of 8 or 9, when they are starting to hav...more

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Aug 01, 2009 Barbara Stevens rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-books

I read this book because my daughter, Abby, told me that it was one of her favorites growing up. The author, Wilson Rawls, has the ability to put a lot of heart into his books and great characterization. He never fails making me fall in love with his characters and making me cry at the end.

This from the back of the book: A tree full of monkeys is the last thing fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee expects to find on one of his treks through Oklahoma's Cherokee Ozarks. Jay learns from his grandfather...more

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Feb 03, 2009 Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: children, dog fans, school teachers, drunk monkeys

Recommended to Mitchell by: Mrs. Jensen

Shelves: dog-books

One of my teacher's in elementary school read this to our class with the predictable result that 80% of the kids hated it and the kids who loved reading already promptly read it on their own. I fell into the second category. I had already seen the movie version of Where the Red Fern Grows which made me bawl like a child. I was in around 4th grade so this was totally appropriate.

Summer of the Monkeys had not tears except tears of laughter. I don't want to spoil too much but there is one spoiler y...more

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Apr 27, 2010 Halle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the best book I ever read, it's not like some of those wierd
books,it's worth onethousand stars even more. I'm sure I'll read SUMMER OF THE MONKEYS over and over again, you'll be sorry sometime if you don't read SUMMER OF THE MONKEYS you'll regret it and you'll say HOW CRAZY I WAS NOT TO READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love it because it's such a heart warming story. I know It's a christian book because they read the bible three nights every week. It's
about a boy who has a sister. His name is Jay...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Debbie Tanner rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chapter-books, historical-fiction

This is my new favorite book! It's about a boy growing up in the Ozarks in the late 1800s. His family includes his grandparents, who run a store and live a few miles a way, his sister who has a deformed leg, and his parents. His family has enough to get by but they don't have enough for some of the extras, like the money to get his sister's leg fixed or the pony or the rifle the boy dreams of. But one day, as he's walking through the woods, he comes across a monkey. Unlikely in the Ozarks... but...more

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Mar 25, 2008 Bronson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-read-with-my-kids

This is an absolute favorite. I remember reading this when I was young and my son enjoyed it even more than I did. He asks on a regular basis when he can have a horse, a gun and a hound dog named Rowdy. What a fun book.

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May 04, 2011 Michael 7th rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was great, I would recommend it to anyone who likes a laugh. It is about this kid who moved to the Ozark mountains and was looking for his cow when he saw some strange furry thing in the trees. He went to the market where his grandpa works and told him about the furry thing, his grandpa told him that he heard about a bunch of monkeys that escaped a train crash, and that the people who own them will pay 1 dollar for each monkey and 50 dollars for the biggest one. But what he didn't know...more

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Jul 27, 2009 Cindi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

Summer of the Monkeys was my favorite book in third grade. I've been wanting to share it with my own children for some time. I finally ordered it from amazon this summer. I read it aloud to the children while we were in the car on various road trips this summer and during quiet time in the afternoons.

I fell in love with it again and the kids were so interested in the story they often didn't want to get out of the car when we had reached our destination. We finished it last night and my husband...more

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May 27, 2011 Lacy Nielsen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

By far my favorite book! I love this book, because it has elements of every kind of book I like to read.

It has animals (monkeys and a chimp), mystery, thrills, fantasy (Old Man of the Mountains and the Faerie Ring), horses, Indians, and anything else that makes a story great!

The book is written in first person and Jayberry is hilarious! My favorite quote in the book is when Jayberry says, "Whatever made that sound had to have been as big as a barn!" Classic!

I recommend the book to anyone who wan...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Anita rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an exquisite story is about a young boy and his family living in the Ozarks. Reading this, with its very vivid descriptions, I was transported to a different time and it brought back all the memories of watching the 'Little House on the Prairie'. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. Disney has made this into a movie (which I didn't know prior to this, and have not seen), but I promise you, in reading this, you will live every experience as though you were right there: hear th...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children

I just finished reading this to my kids--again. They love it, and this time even my husband listened to me reading one night when I was near the end and had to finish it himself. It's the story of a boy from a poor family who lives in the Ozarks. A circus train wrecks not far from his home and several monkeys escape. The story is centered around his attempts to catch the monkeys so he can get the reward and buy himself a pony and a .22. There are parts where my kids laugh out loud and parts, nea...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Heidi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-favorites, fiction

This was a perfect read-aloud book for my 7 & 10 year olds. And, I loved it as well. It is a hilarious story about trying to catch some very smart escaped circus monkeys, but it is also about a loving family that you can't help but come to love as you read their story. It had us laughing often and crying often at the end with happy tears. As a mother, you will cry with the desire for your own children to learn to be as selfless as the children in this story. It is definitely a favorite in ou...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Ryan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: youth-fiction

It was better in my memory hearing it from my 3rd grade teacher in Bradleyville, Missouri, where we ran around in several ways much like this kid growing up. My teacher cried. I didn't, and while I do still enjoy the tale, it's disappointing for one in such a great setting as the Ozarks. The main thing that kept coming to mind is flat characters who repeat the same stuff that's either supposed to keep us laughing for hundreds of pages, or supposed to amaze us with wisdom. I like the dog Rowdy, t...more

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Feb 15, 2011 QuotetheRaven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this book. I found it an easy read and it kept my interest. The characters I thought were well thought up and their relationships and personalities where clear and present. I love the relationship that Jay has with his sister.

My favorite part of the book; was when Daisy found the 'Fairy Ring' and it turned out that she wished for her brother to get a .22 and pony, but when he actually gets the money he pays for her operation instead.

What else I would have liked to see; I wish we could h...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Derrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, children, classic, ya, historical

A young teen boy in the Ozarks in the late 1800's spends his summer trying to capture trained zoo monkeys that escaped from a train wreck. Many misadventures and hilarious happenings are chronicled. There is a big reward for the monkeys and Jay wants a pony and a .22 rifle. He catches the monkeys after a big storm and ends up using the reward money to let his sister have an operation to fix her useless leg. And he gets a pony and rifle in the end anyway.

This was a good feel good YA novel about...more

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Jun 25, 2012 T.r. Sune rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a funny book about a boy who decides to catch some crazy monkeys who escape from a lab. Little does Diddie Collins, the protagonist of the book, know that this band of chimps carry a secret object called the Jasseract: the ability to open a portal to the world of Orangujat, where mystical super-race chimps live. The supporting character in the book Bongy Jong must help the young Collins bottleneck the portable before New Orleans becomes enslaved by a primate monstrosity. This is a great...more

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Jul 12, 2010 Kara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished reading this with my oldest kids and we loved it! As a family read it was wonderful. I never read it when I was younger so I think I enjoyed it just as much as my children. I was also glad I read it to them because so much of the farm descriptions were things my kids haven't seen or experienced so I could pause and explain what the book was talking about and I think it made for a richer experience for them, as well. We're going to check out "Where the Red Fern Grows" next and rea...more

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About Wilson Rawls

Wilson Rawls was born on September 24, 1913, in the Ozark country of Scraper, Oklahoma. His mother home-schooled her children, and after Rawls read Jack London's canine-centered tale Call of the Wild, he decided to become a writer.

But the Great Depression hit the Unites States in 1929, and Rawls left home to find work. His family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1935, and he came home each fal...more

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Quotes from Summer Of The Monkeys

“Son, that's a pretty hard question to answer. But I do believe that any wish you make can come true if you help the wish. I don't think that the Lord meant for our lives to be so simple and easy that every time we wanted something, all we had to do was wish for it and we'd get it. I don't believe that at all. If that were true, there would be a lot of lazy people in this old world. No one would be working. Everyone would be wishing for what they needed or wanted.
"Papa," I asked, "how can you help a wish?"
"Oh, there are a lot of ways," Papa said. "Hard work, faith, patience, and determination. I think prayer and really believing in your wish can help more than anything else.” — 7 people liked it

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