Late 1800s in the Ozarks, fourteen-year-old Jay Berry is exploring the overgrown woods neart the banks of the Illinois River (the bottoms) near his family’s farm with his dog, Rowdy, when he encounters a monkey hanging out in the trees. Certainly not indigenous to rural Oklahoma.

Jay Berry soon learns there is not only one monkey, but many. These monkeys have escaped from a circus. More importantly, there is a reward for catching them unharmed. He sets his sights on capturing the monkeys and earning the reward so he can buy his own horse and a .22-rifle.

I first read Summer of the Monkeys when I was eleven as a school assignment. I had no strong feelings about it one way or the other when we were given the book and told to read the first three chapters for the following Monday. I can’t remember why, but it just so happened I was spending that weekend at my grandparents’ house. I brought the book with me, figuring at some point I’d be bored and then I would read it.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to be bored. From the first few pages, I was hooked. If it hadn’t been for the need to stop to eat and sleep, or being kicked out of the house to “blow the stink off” (as my grandmother would say), among the other standard reading interruptions life forces upon us, I would have finished the book without stopping. It’s the first time I remember being so enthralled by a book that I couldn’t put it down.

On the face of it, this is a ‘boy and his dog’ adventure story, but it’s so much more than that. Jay Berry’s world came to life for me like it was a real place, and I wanted to live there.

I don’t remember considering whether I was learning any valuable life lessons while I read Summer of the Monkeys, but there were plenty in there. A certain sign of good fiction, especially when talking middle grade. If I had felt like the book was trying to preach at me about something, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it half as much.

Jay Berry is taking on a difficult task and has many failed attempts along the way. He gets frustrated then has to pick himself up and try again. One of his misadventures involves coming across an illegal brewing operation in the woods. He learns the hard way that you can indeed get drunk and suffer a hangover from alcohol that isn’t finished maturing yet (a worse hangover actually).

Ok, maybe I didn’t do a great job of learning from Jay Berry’s mistakes considering I had to learn this lesson for myself with not-quite-ready-for-bottling, homemade wine when I was eighteen.

But I digress…

Jay Berry also has a twin sister, Daisy who was born with a twisted leg. His family has been saving up to pay for the operation to fix it for the entire fourteen years since the twins were born and they’re nowhere near their goal when the story begins.

Spoiler – when Jay Barry has the reward in hand and it looks like he can have the horse and .22 he always wanted, he realizes there is something he wants more.

This is one of those stories that takes kids on a great ride while also teaching them what it means to have character, resilience, and to care about other people. Can’t ask for much more than that.

As evidence it has not lost its charm, I am reading Summer of the Monkeys to my son right now. Even though he usually requires that his stories involve dragons, he’s loving it. There’s something universal about a kid wandering the woods looking for adventure.