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2023 - �70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls (1976; 1992 ed.) 283 pages.

READING LEVEL 4.8 AR POINTS 13.0

SETTING: Late 1800’s Oklahoma, in the Ozark’s

There’s a big reward, $2.00 per monkey, and $100 for the chimpanzee, for catching the 30 monkeys who escaped from a circus train that wrecked. This would give 14-year-old Jay Berry Lee enough money to buy some things he’s always wanted: a pony and a .22 rifle.

When you find yourself pausing at the end because you’re bawling your eyes out, I’d say this is a pretty darn good story. Every 5th grade child (or older…I sure enjoyed it) should either read this book or have their parents read it to them. It is a pretty lengthy book worth 13.0 AR points. But, I feel like this is the world we have left behind, and one our kids may never see.

Book-to-Movie

Summer of the Monkeys (1998), starring Corey Sevier as Jay Berry Lee, Katie Stuart as sister Daisy Lee, Michael Ontkean as their father, Leslie Hope as their mother Sarah Lee, and Wilford Brimley as Grandfather.

1/17/2023 - UPDATE:
I watched the movie. Horrible! The first thing you’ll see is Rowdy is not a hound dog in the movie. Nope! It’s some kind of white collie. They don’t hardly follow the storyline from the book, either, and the acting is subpar. Read the book!