Maxwell the Monkey Barber

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Pub Date 15 Aug 2016 | Archive Date 04 Jan 2017

Description

Maxwell the monkey operates a barbershop, where he offers everything from a trim to a chop. He excels at helping his fellow animals look shipshape and feel their best, no matter how unruly their locks. Whatever the coiffure quandary, Maxwell is your monkey. He tames Baboon’s curls, styles Lion’s mane, and trims Bear’s beard, exclaiming each time: “Your hair’s the best I’ve seen today!”

All’s well until Elephant comes in, feeling sad because he has no hair. Can Maxwell help? Of course! After some careful thinking, he devises a solution to help even Elephant feel his best.

Cale Atkinson’s bright, cartoon-like digital illustrations beckon readers into Maxwell’s world in this playful tale. Rhyming text, speech bubbles, and a refrain make this story a fun read-aloud accessible to early readers. Full of personality and style, Maxwell has a genuine charm and enthusiasm for helping others that kids will find immediately contagious.

LEVELING
Grade Range: PreK–3
Fountas & Pinnell: J
Reading Recovery: 17
Lexile: AD 520L

COMMON CORE
L.1.1,1f,2,2a,2d,4,4a,5,5a,5d
RF.1.1,2,3,3a,3b,3f,4,4a,4b,4c
SL.1.1,1a,1b,1c,2,4,5,6
W.1.1,3,5,6,8
RL.1.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10

Maxwell the monkey operates a barbershop, where he offers everything from a trim to a chop. He excels at helping his fellow animals look shipshape and feel their best, no matter how unruly their...


A Note From the Publisher

– Underlying message of positivity, optimism, and helping others

– Bright and goofy digital art will draw in young readers

– Rhyming text and refrain make for a fun read-aloud

– Underlying message of positivity, optimism, and helping others

– Bright and goofy digital art will draw in young readers

– Rhyming text and refrain make for a fun read-aloud


Advance Praise

"The bright, colorful illustrations are full of action and expressive animals... Fun for a jungle or a hairy storytime or as bibliotherapy for tots scared of the barber."
Kirkus Reviews

"The bright, colorful illustrations are full of action and expressive animals... Fun for a jungle or a hairy storytime or as bibliotherapy for tots scared of the barber."
Kirkus Reviews


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781771471039
PRICE $16.95 (USD)

Average rating from 81 members


Featured Reviews

What a cute and delightful read. My little nephews (3 and 5) loved it, especially the colorful and playful illustrations. This is the story of a sweet and talented barber monkey named Max. He helps all the different animals of the jungle that walk through his barbershop to look their best. He snips, trims and always makes sure to compliment his many customers. One day a sad elephant comes into the shop and asks Max if there is anything he can do to help him because he has no hair. The clever little monkey thinks and ponders and finally comes up with something to help turn the elephant's frown upside down.

This was a lovely story about kindness, and how with a little help from friends we can all go from feeling blue to feeling great. Definitely a little bit of a lesson in loving ourselves the way we are too. The rhyming was fun and the humor kept my little nephews entertained and smiling. They giggled, clapped and cheered for all the animals, and I did too. I would highly recommend it.

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This was just so cute from start to finish! Excellent use of rhyming and colorful illustrations to tell a sweet story of critter kindness. This will be a great addition to story time for little ones.

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I loved the bright illustrations and the variety of animals and grooming featured. I plan on reading it at our “lion” story time. I think kids will enjoy it!

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Great artwork! Great rhyming! It reads like a song and is so smart. I really enjoyed reading this book. It's one that could easily become a family classic. It reminds me of the picture books from my childhood.

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The bright and playful illustrations and brief, rhyming text will make this book a pre-k storytime hit. Maxwell the Monkey Barber has earned quite the reputation for making wild animals look suave, including an adorable mustache for bear. When bald elephant comes in for a style, Maxwell finds his new calling -- making wigs!

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Description: A fun illustrated story about a caring Monkey Barber who solves all his friends' problems by styling their hair. The cute pictures are accompanied by entertaining rhymes.

In Short: The Dr Seuss like rhymes and bright, colorful, adorable images will entertain kids. I recommend this book for any child who loves rhyming books or exotic animals. The story doesn't have an obvious lesson for kids but has good vibes of friendship and generosity and it is very humorous. Maxwell the Monkey Barber is quite the problem solver and such a good friend.

Pros: The art is awesome. The pages are full of color with beautiful detailed images of adorable animals. My favorite was the one with the baboon who's hair was so long and out of control that many other animals were living inside of it. The animal's little faces are poking out and they all look so happy, despite being trapped in hair, it's really cute and funny. The text is easy to read and is all in fun rhymes with a repeated phrase to hold the child's attention and get them reading along.

Cons: I have no notable issues with this book.

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This 4 star review is really a 4.5. It was almost perfect for my 2 year old. The pictures was gorgeous and quite funny. The story was cute and told in such a way that it kept my daughter's attention. She asked me immediately to read it again.

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A story of a brilliant little monkey helping all his animal friends with his talent and ingenuity, Maxwell the Monkey Barber is the best children's book I've read this year! The illustrations are absolutely stunning with bright colors and lots of animals. My son and I read it through multiple times with laughter each time at the unkempt, furry animals followed by OOOoooo's of delight at their new, stylish haircuts. Lessons like "even a monkey can be a barber" and "if you put your mind to it you can come up with creative solutions!" also followed. I can't wait until this book is on shelves and we can add it to our regular reading rotation!

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This incredibly cute rhyming book would be great for kids. The illustrations are bright and colorful and will keep kids giggling. I look forward to being able to buy this so I can use it with my storytime kids.

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This charming tale is a delight to read. A good-hearted, generous little monkey puts on his thinking cap and utilizing the adage: reduce, reuse, and recycle... greatly increasing his clientele numbers.

Animals off all shapes and sizes visit his barbershop to get coiffed-supreme. He snips, trims and extracts to perfection always complimenting his customers by saying:

"And before you go,
might I say,
You're hair's
the best
I've seen today!"

Then one day an elephant enters his shop who is sad and downhearted. He is suffering near hypothermia because he has NO hair on his head. What is a poor elephant to do? Maxwell examines Mr. Elephant closely, and scratching his head, tells him to come back tomorrow for the anti-dote to the bald elephant's predicament. Pondering, thinking, puzzling, wracking his brain way into the night Maxwell finally reaches an Eureka moment! Clever little monkey has just the thing to put a smile on the downtrodden elephant's face...can you guess what it might be?

The illustrations are bright, colourful, vibrant and enrich the storyline to perfection. The book is written in rhyme (something kids will love) and the humour depicted will have kid's smiling all the way to the end of the book. Sheer delight. I highly recommend this book.

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The story of Maxwell, the talented, big-hearted jungle barber, is a sparkling and fast paced romping rhyme. The eye catching illustrations of the book and it`s exciting line-up of events are capable of attracting the young readers easily. The enthusiastic and cute little monkey "Max" has all the potential to come back to his fans in the future, as kids without doubt will fall in love with this "monkey barber".

Maxwell waits for his friends to arrive at his barber shop. A baboon comes first to get his tangled-up curls snipped off, and to release his friends trapped within. Next comes a lion with a wild mane and the clever monkey clips it off to the satisfaction of the lion.Then a bear, who`s followed by a bald headed elephant. The elephant is miserable about not having hair and Maxwell promises to help him. "Come back tomorrow right at three. I`ll think of something just wait and see"
After many hours of careful thought Maxwell knows exactly what to do. He creates a beautiful wig with multicolored hair - a new trend in the jungle! And he never sends off a customer without his brightening lines;
"And before you go I might say, Your hair`s the best I`ve seen today"

Maxwell`s cheerful personality is well suited for children. His complimenting words and generous nature are tonic for them. Atkinson`s adorable illustrations and rhyming lines will ensure that the kids will cherish this tale.

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Maxwell the Monkey Barber is a cute and adorable read. It highlights the differences in others and sends a lesson that no matter how different you are, you are still uniquely beautiful. All children should read this and their parent's right along with them. My son loved this book and we read it around four times within two days. Lovely book! We need more of them.

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