Rating: 
Summary: Review of Monkey Island
Review: Paula Fox does an amazing job depicting homelessness in her book Monkey Island. Clay Garrity, an eleven year old boy, is left to fend for himself after his pregnant mother disappears. He meets two homeless men, Buddy and Calvin, who become his new family on the street. They care for him as best they can but the cold and lack of food are too much for Clay and he has to be taken to a hosiptal. Now he has to depend on Social Services to find out what happened to his mother and his new sibling. I thought that Fox's description of Clay's life on the street was exceptional. Her language really flowed nicely and I felt like I was experiencing what Clay was. Fox also had the major dramatic question, "What happened to Clay's mother?". This question was the driving force while I read this book. I was so intrigued that I finished the book in one sitting. The only problem I had with this book was the ending. I didn't think it was realistic. Fox had all of these well portrayed, complex issues throughout the book and the ending just seemed very simplistic compared to everything else. However, overall I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it was well written, that language flowed together, and that it provided a realistic look at what life would be like on the streets. I think this book would be a great tool to help teachers to portray homelessness and/or poverty to their students. This book would really force children to look at and understand the social problems that our society has and help them to relate to, and sympathize with, these problems.
Rating: 
Summary: A kid homeless
Review: The book "Monkey Island" was about being homeless and family. Clay was an 11 year old boy who lived in a home with his mother and father. One day clay's father left him and his pregnant mother. Clay mother set out to find his father but she left Clay
alone in a run down hotel. Soon Clay started living on the streets, were he met two met two men, Calvin and Buddy. They watched after clay like he was their own son. They became Clay's
family on the street. Clay spent Thanksgiving and Christmas homeless. They had Thanksgiving dinner at a church with many other homeless people, they even snuck into the church that night just to sleep. Calvin became sick and went into a comma, Buddy went to a homeless shelter. But Clay still kept looking for his parents, going back to that run down hotel were his mother left him. Finally after several months in on the street being cold and homeless, Clay found his mother and his new baby sister. They got a new apartment and became a family again. This was a good book, it really makes you think about how homeless people live. I do not think that I could be as brave as
Clay was in this book.
Rating:
Summary: A book about friendship.
Review: The book, Monkey Island, by Paula Fox, is a wonderful book. It is a book that leaves you waiting to find out what happens next. It is about a boy named Clay who is homeless. He starts living with two elderly men, Buddy and Calvin. Clay wants to find his parents badly. They left him at a hotel when he was eleven years old. If you think that a homeless person is just a dirty, worthless person, this book, I guarantee will change your thoughts. I recommend this book for fifth graders and up.
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