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Mercy on These Teenage Chimps
On his thirteenth birthday, Ronnie woke up feeling like a chimp--all long armed, big eared, and gangly. He's been muddling through each gawky day since. Now his best friend, Joey, has turned thirteen, too--and after Joey humiliates himself in front of a cute girl, he climbs a tree and refuses to come down. So Ronnie sets out to woo the girl on Joey's behalf. After all, teenage chimps have to stick together.
Acclaimed author Gary Soto tells a fun and touching story about friendship, understanding, and the painful insecurities of being thirteen.
Acclaimed author Gary Soto tells a fun and touching story about friendship, understanding, and the painful insecurities of being thirteen.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
20 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Gary Soto
135 books244 followersGary Soto is the author of eleven poetry collections for adults, most notably New and Selected Poems, a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including Ploughshares, Michigan Quarterly, Poetry International, and Poetry, which has honored him with the Bess Hokin Prize and the Levinson Award and by featuring him in the interview series Poets in Person. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. For ITVS, he produced the film “The Pool Party,” which received the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Film Excellence. In 1997, because of his advocacy for reading, he was featured as NBC’s Person-of-the-Week. In 1999, he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book Award for Petty Crimes. He divides his time between Berkeley, California and his hometown of Fresno.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 12, 2019
I read this because it is required reading for one of my reading groups. There were parts that were pretty funny, but I fear that my 8th graders will only think it's "lame". I thought the chimp metaphor was funny, and the other animal metaphors were also appropriate. It was a fast, easy read for younger readers.
October 23, 2021
This book irritated me. The two boys in this story decide that they now, as a result of puberty, look like chimps. The resulting imagery and direct metaphors would be fine -- except that the chimp comparisons are apparently known to everyone in their town. Everywhere this kid goes, he bumps into someone who makes fun of his monkey/chimp-like appearance. It seems highly unlikely to me that his whole town is in on this comparison. So, instead of enjoying the premise of the story (which really was cute), I found myself annoyed with this silliness and wondering how many kids would be coming back into the library confused as to whether they were reading about human beings or monkeys.
September 22, 2025
The writing was off on this, too low for 7th or 8th graders, and not really much toward 6th maybe. It's too bad because it has some great active humor and greater potential humor straining to get out. The characters also want to be identifiable, but it's too terse, too over obvious and descriptive in list fashion in trying to set the scenes. It would have been a better story with the same plot but about 20 more pages of pacing put to it. And a more appropriate level of writing.
March 12, 2019
I read this because it is required reading for one of my reading groups. There were parts that were pretty funny, but I fear that my 8th graders will only think it's "lame". I thought the chimp metaphor was funny, and the other animal metaphors were also appropriate. It was a fast, easy read for younger readers.
April 5, 2019
I think this book was pretty good and that's coming from someone that doesn't like reading.
May 6, 2008
Reviewed by Mechele R. Dillard for TeensReadToo.com
How many books capture the angst of the teenage girl--her changing body, her constant mood swings, her unpredictable complexion and her yearning for attention from the boy of her dreams? Hundreds? Thousands?
Now, how many books take the opposite point of view--how many books go into the mind of the teenage boy and capture his frustration with his seemingly disproportionate body? His struggles to understand the "crooked road" that is life(p. 123)? And, of course, the blush of first love--unrequited, but first, nevertheless. As any reader of young adult fiction knows, books unabashedly delving into the struggles of life as a teenage boy don't come along often.
Author Gary Soto examines the everyday life of the adolescent male in MERCY ON THESE TEENAGE CHIMPS. According to newly-teenaged Ronnie, the transformation from boy to chimp begins on one's thirteenth birthday: "I
examined my reflection in the bathroom mirror. What was this? The peachy fuzz on my chin? The splayed ears? The wide grin that revealed huge teeth? ... I wiggled my ears. My nose appeared flatter than ever" (p. 1). And, so begins this inevitable leg of the transformation from boy to man.
The most intriguing aspect of this story is the sensitivity Soto explores in the characters of Ronnie and his best friend, Joey. Too often in our society, boys are taught that they are required to lose--or, at minimum, hide--their sensitivity, lest they be considered less of a man as they mature. Throughout the story, the reader is privy to Ronnie's innermost thoughts and fears, some of which he shares with Joey: "Do you think any girls will like us?" (p. 4) is one question met with silence from his best friend--well, silence and Joey's attempt to spit on his cat. Still, such raw honesty between males is eye-opening, refreshing, and too rarely conveyed in young adult literature.
At times, the constant stream of chimpanzee references become a bit grating, but the honesty of the characters trumps this particular negative. Soto's MERCY ON THESE TEENAGE CHIMPS works, for male and female readers alike, comforting adolescent males and assuring females that, yes, the boys have the same awkward, frightening fears as the girls, whether they are open about their feelings or not.
Have mercy!
How many books capture the angst of the teenage girl--her changing body, her constant mood swings, her unpredictable complexion and her yearning for attention from the boy of her dreams? Hundreds? Thousands?
Now, how many books take the opposite point of view--how many books go into the mind of the teenage boy and capture his frustration with his seemingly disproportionate body? His struggles to understand the "crooked road" that is life(p. 123)? And, of course, the blush of first love--unrequited, but first, nevertheless. As any reader of young adult fiction knows, books unabashedly delving into the struggles of life as a teenage boy don't come along often.
Author Gary Soto examines the everyday life of the adolescent male in MERCY ON THESE TEENAGE CHIMPS. According to newly-teenaged Ronnie, the transformation from boy to chimp begins on one's thirteenth birthday: "I
examined my reflection in the bathroom mirror. What was this? The peachy fuzz on my chin? The splayed ears? The wide grin that revealed huge teeth? ... I wiggled my ears. My nose appeared flatter than ever" (p. 1). And, so begins this inevitable leg of the transformation from boy to man.
The most intriguing aspect of this story is the sensitivity Soto explores in the characters of Ronnie and his best friend, Joey. Too often in our society, boys are taught that they are required to lose--or, at minimum, hide--their sensitivity, lest they be considered less of a man as they mature. Throughout the story, the reader is privy to Ronnie's innermost thoughts and fears, some of which he shares with Joey: "Do you think any girls will like us?" (p. 4) is one question met with silence from his best friend--well, silence and Joey's attempt to spit on his cat. Still, such raw honesty between males is eye-opening, refreshing, and too rarely conveyed in young adult literature.
At times, the constant stream of chimpanzee references become a bit grating, but the honesty of the characters trumps this particular negative. Soto's MERCY ON THESE TEENAGE CHIMPS works, for male and female readers alike, comforting adolescent males and assuring females that, yes, the boys have the same awkward, frightening fears as the girls, whether they are open about their feelings or not.
Have mercy!
February 11, 2016
There 19s a great storyline here. Lots of funny moments. Lots of sweet, sincere moments too. This book would be perfect, if not for the fact that the narrator sounds too much like a middle-aged writer trying to sound like a middle schooler.
Ronnie Gonzalez is 13, and coming to terms with the fact that he feels like a chimpanzee. His ears stick out, his legs are too short 13 making his arms extend below his knees, he likes bananas a lot, and he smells bad after only a few hours of running around playing his chimp-like games.
Ronnie and his best friend Joey, another boy in the throes of puberty, are at their best when discussing, and acting out, their thoroughly primate behaviors. They climb roofs and gym rafters, they support each other in their love of eating and their fearful angry complaints about Coach Bear, and they both babble incoherently in the presence of Jessica 13 the obligatory cute girl.
But when Ronnie is left to his thoughts, these are some of the sentences that result. 1CMy uncle had always been cheap, but he could chew your ears with a good story. His talk was free, costing nothing more than the air from his lungs. 1D
And here 19s Ronnie describing another 13-year-old he finds within a teen-help book. 1CThe book was so old, the boy had to be an elderly man by now, or possibly dead and in his grave. I had to wonder whether he ever found love. 1D And I have to wonder when 13-year-olds started musing like eerily succinct psychotherapists.
It 19s important to emphasize that the narration is my only significant complaint. Ronnie is a great guy, and a funny guy, and a model for Middle School chimpanzees everywhere.
Ronnie Gonzalez is 13, and coming to terms with the fact that he feels like a chimpanzee. His ears stick out, his legs are too short 13 making his arms extend below his knees, he likes bananas a lot, and he smells bad after only a few hours of running around playing his chimp-like games.
Ronnie and his best friend Joey, another boy in the throes of puberty, are at their best when discussing, and acting out, their thoroughly primate behaviors. They climb roofs and gym rafters, they support each other in their love of eating and their fearful angry complaints about Coach Bear, and they both babble incoherently in the presence of Jessica 13 the obligatory cute girl.
But when Ronnie is left to his thoughts, these are some of the sentences that result. 1CMy uncle had always been cheap, but he could chew your ears with a good story. His talk was free, costing nothing more than the air from his lungs. 1D
And here 19s Ronnie describing another 13-year-old he finds within a teen-help book. 1CThe book was so old, the boy had to be an elderly man by now, or possibly dead and in his grave. I had to wonder whether he ever found love. 1D And I have to wonder when 13-year-olds started musing like eerily succinct psychotherapists.
It 19s important to emphasize that the narration is my only significant complaint. Ronnie is a great guy, and a funny guy, and a model for Middle School chimpanzees everywhere.
March 13, 2014
There’s a great storyline here. Lots of funny moments. Lots of sweet, sincere moments too. This book would be perfect, if not for the fact that the narrator sounds too much like a middle-aged writer trying to sound like a middle schooler.
Ronnie Gonzalez is 13, and coming to terms with the fact that he feels like a chimpanzee. His ears stick out, his legs are too short – making his arms extend below his knees, he likes bananas a lot, and he smells bad after only a few hours of running around playing his chimp-like games.
Ronnie and his best friend Joey, another boy in the throes of puberty, are at their best when discussing, and acting out, their thoroughly primate behaviors. They climb roofs and gym rafters, they support each other in their love of eating and their fearful angry complaints about Coach Bear, and they both babble incoherently in the presence of Jessica – the obligatory cute girl.
But when Ronnie is left to his thoughts, these are some of the sentences that result. “My uncle had always been cheap, but he could chew your ears with a good story. His talk was free, costing nothing more than the air from his lungs.”
And here’s Ronnie describing another 13-year-old he finds within a teen-help book. “The book was so old, the boy had to be an elderly man by now, or possibly dead and in his grave. I had to wonder whether he ever found love.” And I have to wonder when 13-year-olds started musing like eerily succinct psychotherapists.
It’s important to emphasize that the narration is my only significant complaint. Ronnie is a great guy, and a funny guy, and a model for Middle School chimpanzees everywhere.
Ronnie Gonzalez is 13, and coming to terms with the fact that he feels like a chimpanzee. His ears stick out, his legs are too short – making his arms extend below his knees, he likes bananas a lot, and he smells bad after only a few hours of running around playing his chimp-like games.
Ronnie and his best friend Joey, another boy in the throes of puberty, are at their best when discussing, and acting out, their thoroughly primate behaviors. They climb roofs and gym rafters, they support each other in their love of eating and their fearful angry complaints about Coach Bear, and they both babble incoherently in the presence of Jessica – the obligatory cute girl.
But when Ronnie is left to his thoughts, these are some of the sentences that result. “My uncle had always been cheap, but he could chew your ears with a good story. His talk was free, costing nothing more than the air from his lungs.”
And here’s Ronnie describing another 13-year-old he finds within a teen-help book. “The book was so old, the boy had to be an elderly man by now, or possibly dead and in his grave. I had to wonder whether he ever found love.” And I have to wonder when 13-year-olds started musing like eerily succinct psychotherapists.
It’s important to emphasize that the narration is my only significant complaint. Ronnie is a great guy, and a funny guy, and a model for Middle School chimpanzees everywhere.
April 20, 2011
I really could not get into this book. I started reading it and had to put it down. I ended up only reading a couple chapters of this book because I really could not get into it. I think if the book was about two girls and not two boys I may have been more interested although I don’t know.
Summary: Mercy on These Teenage Chimps is about two friends, Ronnie and Joey. They have both just turned thirteen and Ronnie has started experiencing some chimp like abilities. It’s about the friendship of these two boys and how they grow into themselves as young men and the insecurities that go along with being thirteen years old.
I would work with the students on the usage of similes and metaphors through this book. I would pick out a few as follows and have the class do them together then have students go off in pairs to find more in the book. Something else to do with the class would be to teach students about the different feelings and things that go on with your body and mind as you are growing into yourself as a teenager.(this would be something for the older of the age group)
Similes
The pang was like a fishhook in my heart. (p. 5)
Joey‘s face dropped like an old heavy sunflower. (p. 21)
Two dusty dogs lay by the road like roadkill. (p. 31)
Metaphors
Coach roasted my ears with hurtful words. (p. 21)
My legs buzzed.(p. 101)
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0152...
http://stage30.scholastic.com/browse/...
http://www.garysoto.com/
Summary: Mercy on These Teenage Chimps is about two friends, Ronnie and Joey. They have both just turned thirteen and Ronnie has started experiencing some chimp like abilities. It’s about the friendship of these two boys and how they grow into themselves as young men and the insecurities that go along with being thirteen years old.
I would work with the students on the usage of similes and metaphors through this book. I would pick out a few as follows and have the class do them together then have students go off in pairs to find more in the book. Something else to do with the class would be to teach students about the different feelings and things that go on with your body and mind as you are growing into yourself as a teenager.(this would be something for the older of the age group)
Similes
The pang was like a fishhook in my heart. (p. 5)
Joey‘s face dropped like an old heavy sunflower. (p. 21)
Two dusty dogs lay by the road like roadkill. (p. 31)
Metaphors
Coach roasted my ears with hurtful words. (p. 21)
My legs buzzed.(p. 101)
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0152...
http://stage30.scholastic.com/browse/...
http://www.garysoto.com/
December 18, 2011
Joey and Ronaldo are besties. They've known each other forever and hang out every day. They just turned thirteen and the craziest thing happened - they've turned into chimps. Okay. Well, not for realz chimps. But they sure as heck feel like chimps. You see, it's more figuratively speaking. Puberty onset, arms appear longer than body, ears stick out just so, the whole nine yards. And then the worst thing possible could happen: Joey gets embarrassed in front of his dream girl.
"Quit acting like such a monkey" the coach shouted while Joey climbed up the bleachers to capture the runaway balloon that Jessica lost grip of.
A monkey. If that's what everyone thought he was, then that's how he would live. The very next day, Joey climbs up the tree in the front of his house and decides that he's going to stay put. Ronaldo does not believe his best friend until he sees the truth. Joey has created a home up in the tree. Knowing he must help his bud out, he decides the only thing he can do is track down dream girl Jessica. Maybe if she tells Joey that he's not a monkey all will go back to normal.
This is a really quick fun read. If you have a reluctant reader this will probably pull them in. Especially a boy. It's not one of those books I'm gonna rave about, but I dig Soto, so sure check it out.
"Quit acting like such a monkey" the coach shouted while Joey climbed up the bleachers to capture the runaway balloon that Jessica lost grip of.
A monkey. If that's what everyone thought he was, then that's how he would live. The very next day, Joey climbs up the tree in the front of his house and decides that he's going to stay put. Ronaldo does not believe his best friend until he sees the truth. Joey has created a home up in the tree. Knowing he must help his bud out, he decides the only thing he can do is track down dream girl Jessica. Maybe if she tells Joey that he's not a monkey all will go back to normal.
This is a really quick fun read. If you have a reluctant reader this will probably pull them in. Especially a boy. It's not one of those books I'm gonna rave about, but I dig Soto, so sure check it out.
April 28, 2008
another favoreads contender. this one features a hispanic protagonist who is smack dab in the middle of that most awkward of adolescent stages–the magic months when he morphs from a boy to a teenager. he and his friend bemoan the fact that their arms are so long while their legs still haven’t grown to match, the fact that their ears stick out and acne is blooming on their faces, and just their general awkwardness. the friend rescues a balloon from the rafters of the gym for a pretty girl and the coach yells at him (calls him a chimp) and his feelings are hurt. he decides to live in a tree and the rest of the book is the main character (not living in a tree) trying to run around town to do things to help his friend feel better enough to come down (get the coach to apologize, find the pretty girl and get her to talk to him, etc.). a delightfully light-hearted book!
June 14, 2010
This is the story of two young boys named Ronnie and Joey who have hit puberty and they think they have turned into chimps. They suddenly need to shower, their arms hang down by their knees, and they are interested in girls. When Joey is humiliated in front of the prettiest girl he's ever seen he climbs a tree and wont come down. Ronnie tries to save his friend's reputation while learning more about himself.
This is a funny insight into the new and exciting life of puberty and what every male has to go through in order to find themselves and grow up. I enjoyed this book, i thought it was funny and interesting. I did not connect with it since i am not a male who is going through or has gone through puberty, but i think young boys would find this book funny and insightful.
This is a funny insight into the new and exciting life of puberty and what every male has to go through in order to find themselves and grow up. I enjoyed this book, i thought it was funny and interesting. I did not connect with it since i am not a male who is going through or has gone through puberty, but i think young boys would find this book funny and insightful.
June 21, 2010
This is the 6th of the 15 Sunshine State Young Reader Award (SSYRA) books for 6th to 8th grade that I've read this summer. I rated this one at 2 stars, I suspect that it's included in the SSYRA list for this year due to it's teen boy protagonists and the fact that it's a VERY quick read. The story is almost unbearably thin- two thirteen year old boys decide that their changing bodies and emotions have turned them into chimps. One boy climbs a tree after an embarrassing encounter with a girl and refuses to come down. The other boy seeks to get him down from the tree and set him up with the girl....that's the whole story. This book may appeal to boys who are reluctant readers, that seems to be it's main draw.
July 5, 2010
Short and a fast read, this centers on the emotional revolutions of two seventh graders going through the "awkward" phase of turning into teenagers. The main character goes on a quest to help his best friend and fellow "chimp" overcome humiliations and on the way earns a great deal of respect for being compassionate and caring. There's some beautiful moments in the book - my favorites are the boy dealing with his previously insulting coach and finding out the coach has feelings as well - but I suspect this story is probably more entertaining for those actually stuck IN that awkward phase; to me the book reads like a "oh yah I was there" moment in time rather than something I find overly sympathetic.
August 13, 2011
In Mrs. Tessler's Class: Fitting in
Short and a fast read, this centers on the emotional revolutions of two seventh graders going through the "awkward" phase of turning into teenagers. The main character goes on a quest to help his best friend and fellow "chimp" overcome humiliations and on the way earns a great deal of respect for being compassionate and caring. There's some beautiful moments in the book - my favorites are the boy dealing with his previously insulting coach and finding out the coach has feelings as well - but I suspect this story is probably more entertaining for those actually stuck IN that awkward phase; to me the book reads like a "oh yah I was there" moment in time rather than something I find overly sympathetic.
Short and a fast read, this centers on the emotional revolutions of two seventh graders going through the "awkward" phase of turning into teenagers. The main character goes on a quest to help his best friend and fellow "chimp" overcome humiliations and on the way earns a great deal of respect for being compassionate and caring. There's some beautiful moments in the book - my favorites are the boy dealing with his previously insulting coach and finding out the coach has feelings as well - but I suspect this story is probably more entertaining for those actually stuck IN that awkward phase; to me the book reads like a "oh yah I was there" moment in time rather than something I find overly sympathetic.
April 30, 2014
I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started this book. This book recounts the lives of Ronnie and Joey, who wake up on their thirteenth birthdays and find out they are chimpanzees. Not literally of course, but the two friends may as well be with all the monkey business that goes on. I really enjoyed how even at the age of thirteen they are still able to have beautiful and creative imaginations. Sometimes it is perceived that by the age of thirteen you should begin to grow up and become more mature, but you are only a kid once and the chance to be immature and pretend you are monkeys on your birthday is a great excuse to “monkey” around. This is a fun book because it still allows children to be young and have a youthful attitude even as they transition into their teenage years.
July 10, 2008
This book is pretty coool... I am finishing it up for my summer reading assignment in school. =)
It's about two best friends. One of them, Joey, is depressed about something that happened to him and embarrassed him in front of the girl he loved. Now he wants to live in a tree in his front yard and says he will never get down. His best friend will do anything to help him get down from the tree and claim his lost love again.
It's about two best friends. One of them, Joey, is depressed about something that happened to him and embarrassed him in front of the girl he loved. Now he wants to live in a tree in his front yard and says he will never get down. His best friend will do anything to help him get down from the tree and claim his lost love again.
March 17, 2009
With wacky humor, Soto tells a fun middle-grade boy story about Ronnie and Joey, who feel that since they've turned thirteen they've become awkward, long-armed, big-eared, apple-and-banana-eating, chimps. When Joey is humiliated in front of a special girl he decides to live in a tree - as the ugly chimp that he is. Ronnie is determined to rescue his friend by finding this special girl and pleading Ronnie's case. His journey takes quirky twists and turns with a satisfying resolution.
May 24, 2009
This book was written at a much lower reading level than the Gary Soto books that I'm used to, and that made it much less enjoyable. The sentences were short and the dialogue seemed dumbed-down. The plot was charming enough, but that lyrical quality that makes Soto so very worth reading was just not there.
August 3, 2010
A coming of age story!
Ronnie and his friend Joey have turned thirteen and all of a sudden everything has changed: they are chimps (Ronnie's way of describing how they are changing). The story deals with a few days in the boys life right after their birthdays. Joey has decided to live in a tree and never come down, so Ronnie has to fix everything so Joey will go back to his normal life.
Ronnie and his friend Joey have turned thirteen and all of a sudden everything has changed: they are chimps (Ronnie's way of describing how they are changing). The story deals with a few days in the boys life right after their birthdays. Joey has decided to live in a tree and never come down, so Ronnie has to fix everything so Joey will go back to his normal life.
November 9, 2010
I'm beginning to question the selection process for sunshine state books. This was real dumb. About a boy going through puberty, sort of. The writing was bad, the plot was dumb, at least it was short. It was incredibly repetative. Felt more j fic than YA. The constant referencing of chimps, monkeys, and bananas was total overkill.
Currently reading
May 19, 2014I read this book and I felt really dumb. At first I didn't get it, but as I got further into it I realized that the boys weren't actually "chimps." As I kept reading I noticed that it was like a metaphor. They were "chimps" as in like their bodies were changing because of puberty. So the so called "chimps" we're just hairy boys hitting puberty.
January 21, 2015
I didn't really enjoy this book very much. I thought the characters were very flat and boring. I also thought the plot was very anti climactic. The events in the story were redundant and not very intriguing. Several events were completely irrelevant to the story. I found it boring and it plodded along until the very predictable end.
Read
May 24, 2016This book is about kids named Ronnie and Joey. They reach the teen age years and start feeling like "monkeys". They have longer arms, the climb trees, and start growing facial hair. They go through life going through starting to like girls and they can't get any. I would recommend this book to kids because it's funny. It's funny in a childish way
May 31, 2016
I just finished reading this book. This is a book that combines humor and life issues. This book is a great book that I would recommend to people for those who want to have some humor in a book. One of my favorite parts is the ending when the 4 main characters are finally happy and settle everything. If I wanted to read this book again, I would read it again.
September 11, 2010
Soto likens puberty and adolescence to being a chimpanzee. This is a quick read that I believe will especially appeal to young boys. The dialogue and characterization make the story very relatable to teenage culture.
August 9, 2008
Maybe it's because I'm not a teenage boy, but I didn't enjoy this book - I didn't get it and it just annoyed me the whole time.
July 8, 2010
This book is seriously funny, especially when you have a thirteen year old boy living in your house. Started off really strong, but it got kinda sappy at the end.
July 12, 2010
i thought this would be an entertaining read. however, it felt like the main character was way to self-aware. honestly, felt like how adults WANT teens to think. annoyingly distract. :-(
Currently reading
August 24, 2010Great book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews