THREE LITTLE MONKEYS

Hilda Snibbs cares for Tim, Sam, and Lulu, three lively monkeys.

One morning the well-turned-out white woman leaves her elegant home to buy bananas. The simian siblings grow bored, so they look in the hall closet for something to play with, and they find umbrellas, shoes and boots, and fancy hats. “When Hilda came home she found the most dreadful mess.” She tells them how disappointed she is; they just stare with their big, round eyes. When she goes to buy a hat the next day, the living room is the scene of the next mess. There is a shopping trip for wool the following day, and the kitchen falls prey. The next day, it’s the bathroom. Hilda warns them sternly before she leaves to visit her sick mother. She returns to a clean house. Oh no! Where can the monkeys be? Weeping, Hilda goes to the closet for a dry hanky—and finds her charges. That night she finds her bed full of silverware and tinned sardines. “But that is the sort of thing you have to expect if you have three little monkeys.” British illustrator Blake here supplies the words for Chichester Clark, his former student at the Royal College of Art. The duo’s first outing together is a charming story of patient devotion. Chichester Clark’s bright and lively mixed-media illustrations are full of patterns, detail, and adorable, mischievous monkeys.

Children may not recognize themselves herein, but their caregivers will see their little monkeys.