Monkey Business

Thanks to everyone who has been sending me books and articles about the racism and hatred expressed when people of African descent are equivocated with monkeys, apes or gorillas. And, thanks for sending information about children’s books with anthropomorphic monkeys and apes that do nothing to end this racism. I’ve decided to create this page to organize this material. Hopefully, there will be little to add. If you do see something, please do send it may way and I’ll add it here.

Recent and forthcoming books that feature or include anthropomorphic monkeys, apes or gorillas.

Baby Monkey Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin. Scholastic (2018)
Monkey Not Ready for the Baby by Marc Brown. Knopf (2016)
Jooba Goes to the Market M.E. Mahalland and J.L. Lewis. Mohalland Lewis LLC (2018)
Willie the Wimp series by Anthony Brown. Walker Books
Alphabet Search and Find by AL Wodd, Mike Jolley and Allan Sanders. Wide Eye Editions. 2018
Spunky Little Monkey by Bill Martin and Michael Sampson Scholastic. (2017)
When Your Monkeys Won’t Go To Bed by Susanna Leonard Hill and Daniel Wiseman. LIttle Simon (2018)
Little Monkey Calms Down by Michael Dahl and Oriol Vidal. Picture Window Books. (2014)
King Calm : MIndful Gorilla in the City by Susan D. Sweet and Brenda S. Miles. Magination Books. 2016
Five Little Monkeys Trick or Treat by Eileen Christelow HMH (2009)
Monkey on the Run by Leo Timmers. Gecko Press (2019)
Mr. Monkey Takes A Hike by Jeff Mack. Simon and Schuster (2019)
This is MY Fort; My Tooth is LOST; What is Inside This Box? (Monkey and Cake Books) by Drew Daywalt; Olivier Tallec. Scholastic (2019)
Five Little Monkeys 5 Minute Stories by Eileen Christelow. HMH (2018)
Stop That Yawn by Caron Levis and LeUyen Pham. Antheneum Books (2018)
Jack Blasts Off (A Jack Book) by Mac Barnett and Gret Pizzoli. Viking Books (originally schedule for January 2019)
Bunny Vs. Monkey series by Jamie Smart. Turtleback Books.
Steve Goes to Carnival by Josua Button and Robyn Wells. Candlewick. (2019)
Oh No. Bobo! You’re in Trouble by Phil Gosler. Roaring Brook Press (2019)
Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang and Max Lang. Random House. (2018)
Curious George in the Big Surprise (Curious George’s Funny Business) by H. A. Rey. HMH. (2019)
Curious George Goes Swimming by H. A. Rey. HMH Books (2019)
Curious George, Good Night, Zoo by H. A. Rey. HMH (2019)
Curious George Joins the Team by H. A. Rey. HMH (2019)
Where is My Balloon? by Ariel Bernstein and Scott Magoon. Simon and Schuster. (2019)
Attack of the Zombie Mermaids; Hunt for Octo-Shark; Escape from Haunted Treasure Island; Battle of the Pirate Bands. All are 4-D books by Anthony Steele and Pauline Reeves. Capstone. (2019)
What the Ladybug Heard at the Zoo by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks. Henry Holt & Co. (2019)
Monkey Time by Michael Hall. Greenwillow Books/Harper Collins (2019)

23 October 2019 “Cops Called Racist in North Carolina City for Toy Monkey with Dreadlocks in Cruiser”
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/article236555233.html

Sept 2019 Beyond the Secret Garden : Animal Fables and Dehumanization
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/238/childrens-books/articles/beyond-the-secret-garden-animal-fables-and-dehumanization

27 August 2019 “TV Host Issues Apology After Saying her Black Co-host Looks Like Gorilla”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/27/oklahoma-city-anchor-apologizes-comparing-black-co-host-gorilla/2128100001/

15 Sept 2019 Cuddle Monkey Book Review; Kirkus
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/blake-liliane-hellman/cuddle-monkey/

26 April 2019 “Barrel Full of Monkeys But No Fun” by Vicky Smith
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/barrels-full-monkeys-no-fun/

20 July 2018 Tweet: https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1020450028241014785
19 July 2018 “Racism is becoming more overt”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-44884123/racism-is-becoming-more-overt

22 June 2018 “Knowing Better Doing Better”
http://readingwhilewhite.blogspot.com/2018/06/knowing-better-doing-better.html

2 June 2018 “What’s with this perennial thing about apes and blacks?”
https://www.eurweb.com/2018/06/whats-with-this-perennial-thing-about-apes-and-blacks/

1 June 2018 “How it feels to be called a monkey” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/06/01/how-it-feels-to-be-called-a-monkey/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f7968a80bba8

1 June 2018 “Florida Republicans really don’t understand why it’s racist to compare black people to apes” https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/06/01/florida-republicans-really-dont-understand-why-its-racist-to-compare-black-people-to-apes

30 May 2018 “What’s so wrong about Roseann Barr’s Tweet”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-social-thinker/201805/what-s-so-wrong-about-roseanne-barrs-tweet

8 May 2018 “A Hotel Clerk was caught on video calling a black customer a monkey. He’s been fired.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018 /05/08/a-hotel-clerk-was-caught-on-video-calling-a-black-customer-a-monkey-hes-been-fired/?utm_term=.eebf7c91697b

20 March 2018 Chief rabbi calls black people ‘monkey’
Times of Israel https://www.timesofisrael.com/chief-rabbi-compares-african-a mericans-to-monkeys/
Independent (UK) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-cheif-rabbi-black-people-monkeys-yitzhak-yosef-talmud-sephardic-a8267666.html
Haaretz https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/adl-slams-chief-rabbi-of-israel-for-calling-black-people-monkeys-1.5932876
ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/International/israeli-rabbi-fire-calling-black-people-monkeys/story?id=53929608

15 Jan 2018 Comparing Black People to Monkeys Has A Long, Dark Simian History HuffPost New Zealand
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/01/15/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history_a_23333383/

14 Jan 2018 “For centuries the west has found it useful to compare black people to monkeys”
https://quartzy.qz.com/1179366/hm-monkey-hoodie-why-have-black-people-been-compared-to-monkeys-by-racists/

14 December 2017 “Early America’s Trouble Relationship with Monkeys” https://daily.jstor.org/early-americas-troubled-relationship-with-monkeys/

9 March 2017 “80s Pop Culture Reared Me to See Myself as a Monkey”
https://mindofmalaka.com/2017/03/09/80s-pop-culture-reared-me-to-see-myself-as-a-monkey/

2017 “Do storybooks with Anthropomorphized Animal Characters Promote Prosocial Behaviors in Young Children?” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318864634_Do_storybooks_with_anthropomorphized_animal_characters_promote_prosocial_behaviors_in_young_children

5 Nov 2015: Dave and Ava share a new episode and commenters are quick to point out its racism

🐒 NEW! FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS🐒
Every kid can confirm: it’s more fun to jump on the bed than to sleep in it! pic.twitter.com/KqmF3MEeeB

— Dave and Ava (@daveandava) November 5, 2015

Jan 2013 “Anthropomorphic Veneers in “Voices in the Park”: Questioning the Master Narratives Through a Socio-Historical Analysis of Images and Text” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295702771_Anthropomorphic_Veneers_in_Voices_in_the_Park_Questioning_the_Master_Narratives_Through_a_Socio-Historical_Analysis_of_Images_and_Text

2011 “Children’s media use cuddly animals to reinforce ‘racist’ and ‘socially dominant norms, research says”
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/childrens-media-use-cuddly-animals-to-reinforce-racist-and-socially-dominant-norms-researcher-says (references research article: “Too Many Monkeys Jumping in Their Heads: Animal Lessons within Young Children’s Media.” Timmerman, Nora; Ostertag, Julia. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, v16 p59-75 2011.

This is a thread about when a good book goes wrong.

SEARCH-AND-FIND ALPHABET OF ALPHABETS is a great concept. Adorable illustrations.

BUT. Racist mistakes are made and it spoils the whole thing.

Let's investigate. pic.twitter.com/6u6VX34j3O

— Mrs. N (@BtwnThesePages) July 28, 2018