A funny, not-quite-wordless book follows the efforts of a monkey trying to get from the beach he’s on to the small island offshore where a banana tree grows. The only problem? There’s a shark in the water between them. The perfect pairing of spare text that labels various elements of the story and comical full-page and panel illustrations make for a droll and engaging picture book with plenty of opportunity to predict what might happen next. One page spread says simply, “The stilts” and shows the monkey triumphant, high above the water on a pair of them. The next wordless spread shows him still on the stilts but suddenly up to his chest in the sea, and clearly worried. Yet another turn of the page reveals “The hole” and shows the undersea view of the monkey on the stilts and the deep hole he’s walked into, while the shark grins menacingly. The repeated phrase “The monkey” gets funnier and funnier as his attempts to problem-solve get ever more absurd in his efforts to outwit “The shark” and reach “The bananas.” (Ages 4–8)