It’s Monkey’s birthday and she’s planning a lavish party which she desperately wants to be perfect. She has asked her friends to look after the music, the cake and the decorations so she zips and zooms around the forest in a panic checking on their progress.
Unfortunately nothing is quite right, which sends Monkey in to a tizz. The birds are trying (and failing) to learn the drum beats she wanted, Bear has accidentally baked mud in to the cake and Tapir has got herself tangled up in the decorations. Monkey is in such a flap that she doesn’t stop to help. She just continues to swing around the forest, getting more stressed by the second.
But then she spots her friend Sloth, hanging out in his usual spot. How does he always manage to stay so calm? Sloth explains that sometimes you just need to slow down and connect with the world around you. He encourages Monkey to sit for a moment and observe the the forest – to breathe in the scent of the flowers, feel the earth under his feet and listen to the sound of the wind.
Will Monkey be able to take these valuable lessons on board? And is a fancy party what she really wants or is the presence of her friends the most important thing?
This up-beat rhyming story is a joy to read aloud and it actively encourages children to be more mindful. Ivy and I particularly love the illustrations. The wide-eyed animals are beautiful and you can see that lots of attention has been paid to their facial expressions as they experience a range of emotions.
At the back of the book there is a great mindfulness exercise, accompanied by lots of fun facts about the endangered species featured in the story.
This title publishes in the UK on August 6th 2020 and is currently available to pre-order.
Buy it now: https://amzn.to/3hBkFGW
Disclosure: The publisher provided us a with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.