Book Report: Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

The Summer of the Monkeys is a book about a boy named Jay Berry and his urge to capture some ordinary monkeys for an extraordinary amount of money. This story takes place at the base of the Ozark Mountains near the late 1800s to early 1900s.  Jay Berry, his parents, and his sister Daisy, who had a criplped leg, all live in a log house in Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma near a river bottom. If the setting was something else, the monkeys wouldn’t have been able to stay there.

When Jay Berry’s milk cow, Sally Gooden, gets lost near a river bottom, Jay Berry has to find her. In the process, he also takes his dog, Rowdy with him. Near a tree, Jay sees a monkey and gets very confused, so he goes back home, talks to his father and finds out that a circus had lost some monkeys recently and the rewards for catching all of them were $156 (around $4,702.46 in today’s money). Now, Jay Berry makes it his goal to find and capture the monkeys for a pony and a .22 rifle. This turns out to be the inciting incident of the story. Every day, Jay Berry sets off to find the monkeys, but always comes back home empty handed. He later discovers that there is a $100 monkey which is a chimpanzee and the leader of all the monkeys. One time he got in a fight with the monkeys and even got drunk and sick by drinking sour mash while trying to befriend the chimpanzee. In her playhouse, Daisy finds a fairy-ring and all of the family makes a wish in it. Later, a storm occurs and all the monkeys get stuck, so Jay rescues them and in the process befriends the monkeys. He takes care of them and gives them back to the circus. Now, Jay is left with a very important decision: should he give the money to fix Daisy's leg, or buy himself the pony and gun? In the end, Jay gives the money for her leg. After Daisy’s leg got fixed, Jay still gets the gun and pony since Daisy’s wish was for that to happen.

In The Summer of the Monkeys, the main characters are Jay Berry, the monkeys, Jay’s parents, and Daisy.The protagonist is clearly Jay Berry because the plot revolves around him.There is no clear antagonist, but the monkeys may be the antagonist because they work against the protagonist. Some of the supporting characters are Daisy and Jay’s parents. If Daisy had never found the fairy ring, the miracles that happened wouldn’t have come true. In my opinion, the best Challenger student would be Jay Berry. Jay is very persevering and generous , which are two key values. I think the worst Challenger student would be the chimpanzee (if it was a human.)The chimpanzee lacks rationality, a very important Challenger value.

When Jay gets the money, he is free to spend the money on his own pony and gun, but instead uses it to help Daisy with her crippled leg. Generosity along with perseverance are the two main values of the novel. Generosity is the act of giving more than is expected, and Jay shows generosity by giving Daisy the money she needs for her crippled leg.

The Summer of the Monkeys is a very entertaining book with an overarching question: Will Jay Berry catch the monkeys? My favorite part in this novel was when Jay Berry got into a fight with the monkeys (it was really funny.) I learned that being perseverant and generous will always lead to success. However, the book was a bit long and could be made shorter (eg. Get rid of unnecessary parts.) I would highly recommend this book to ages 10-12. In conclusion, The Summer of the Monkeys  is a very delightful novel about Jay Berry and his desire to apprehend a few monkeys for a great amount of money.