Summer of the Monkeys

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What’s the difference between monkeys and apes? Are chimpanzees apes or monkeys? What kinds of social structures exist within and across these types of species? How might a life of forced captivity and performance in a traveling circus, for example, influence these social structures?

Teaching Suggestion: Jay Berry is shocked to find monkeys in the river bottoms near his home in Oklahoma. The monkeys have escaped a circus, and Jay Berry devises a plan to capture them for reward money. He soon realizes, however, that the monkeys have an elaborate communication system and depend on the chimpanzee, the group’s leader, to avoid entrapment. The first question mimics the confusion between chimpanzee and monkey in the narrative and could prove to be an engaging topic of research and discussion for your students should you allow them to explore the topic in these ways. It may be helpful for students to research and explain why the chimpanzee emerged as the natural leader (based on inherent traits of the species) of the monkeys in the story.