# Summer of the Monkeys

**Author:** Wilson Rawls
**Grade range:** Grades 4–7
**Age range:** 9–12
**First published:** 1976
**Page count:** 283
**Genre:** Middle Grade Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780385114509`
**ISBN-10:** `0440415802`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/summer-of-the-monkeys
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

From the author of Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls's 1976 novel follows fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee, who discovers a band of circus monkeys loose in the Ozark river bottoms and a reward for their capture. His scheming to catch them — and what he ultimately chooses to do with the money — becomes a warm story of family, perseverance, and growing up.

## Themes

- family
- perseverance
- nature
- animals
- growing up

## Where this book is assigned

### Oklahoma Sequoyah Children's Book Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · Oklahoma — [source: Oklahoma Library Association — Sequoyah Book Award, Children's (gr 3-5) + Intermediate (gr 6-8) divisions (student-choice; since 1959); winner roll 1959-2025](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah_Book_Award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Oklahoma — [source: Oklahoma Library Association — Sequoyah Book Award, Children's (gr 3-5) + Intermediate (gr 6-8) divisions (student-choice; since 1959); winner roll 1959-2025](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah_Book_Award)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Oklahoma — [source: Oklahoma Library Association — Sequoyah Book Award, Children's (gr 3-5) + Intermediate (gr 6-8) divisions (student-choice; since 1959); winner roll 1959-2025](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah_Book_Award)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Oklahoma — [source: Oklahoma Library Association — Sequoyah Book Award, Children's (gr 3-5) + Intermediate (gr 6-8) divisions (student-choice; since 1959); winner roll 1959-2025](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah_Book_Award)

### Wisconsin Golden Archer Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · Wisconsin — [source: Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association — Golden Archer Award (student-choice; Intermediate + Middle/Junior High; annual since 1974)](https://www.wemta.org/golden-archer-award.html)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Wisconsin — [source: Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association — Golden Archer Award (student-choice; Intermediate + Middle/Junior High; annual since 1974)](https://www.wemta.org/golden-archer-award.html)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Wisconsin — [source: Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association — Golden Archer Award (student-choice; Intermediate + Middle/Junior High; annual since 1974)](https://www.wemta.org/golden-archer-award.html)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Wisconsin — [source: Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association — Golden Archer Award (student-choice; Intermediate + Middle/Junior High; annual since 1974)](https://www.wemta.org/golden-archer-award.html)

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