The “Great Recession” of 2008 has struck the United States. Calista Snipe’s family is adversely affected by the recession. Her father loses his job as a college professor and although Calista’s mother continues to work part time, the family’s income has been greatly reduced. Now her father is faced with the probability that his unemployment checks will cease if Congress does not vote to extend them. When a very rare monkey, a gibbon, escapes from the local zoo, Calista decides she will catch the gibbon and give the reward money to her father. In her search for the escaped gibbon, Calista enlists the help of her best friend, Skyler McCray. Skyler and Calista joined forces when they were in fourth grade to solve the mystery of the lost purse. Now, two years older, they believe they are up to the task of finding and capturing Papillon, the missing gibbon. However, the challenge of catching the little monkey soon becomes more difficult than they had anticipated as Papillon continually travels from one city park to another, and Cali and Sky discover that they do not have the best of equipment to capture a gibbon. To complicate their task, they discover that other parties are interested in capturing the monkey, and these parties are not happy to find that Cali and Sky are in the competition to win the reward money. To Catch A Monkey explores the impact of the 2008 recession on a middle class family, peer bullying, beginning awareness of puberty for later elementary grade children, and the strengthening friendship between a sixth grade boy and girl. The Manhattan Review-11/2015 Richard Read weaves in adolescent themes amid troubling economic times in his latest middle grade school novel. Although his third person narrative is purely a work of fiction, Read "incorporates situations encountered by students and children that he counseled" during his twenty-five-year stint as a high school counselor. Featuring Cali and Sky as his principal characters, Read cleverly laces in topics such as puberty and bullying, as well as the concept of building healthy boy-girl relationships, while developing his unique storyline. 23rd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards: A fun book that serves multiple purposes. In addition to providing an entertaining story, readers will learn new vocabulary words and problem solving skills. The young protagonist sets out to save the family from matters that go from bad to worse. Although there are situations in the story that might be implausible, the author makes a case that they might actually happen. This fun story is sure to gain fans who will gobble it up and eagerly await the next one. Both children and their parents should appreciate what's been done. To Catch a Monkey By Richard Read Createspace, 202 pages, Format: eBook Star Rating: 5 /5 Being the sequel of TheMystery of the Old Purse, the book outshined its previous book if that iseven possible. This book brings out Calista and Skylar's real characters andtheir commitment to do good in this world. The book starts out with theintroduction that Calista's dad has lost his job due to a recession. Mr. Readbeautifully shows the family's dire need for money with the stressful momentsof panic in the book. Coincidentally a very valuable monkey has escaped. Thezoo has proclaimed that whoever catches this monkey can claim a reward. Calistadecides to catch this monkey for her family. This helps bring out another oneof Calista's traits. The plot is set mainly based on their efforts to catch themonkey. The book also switched perspectives between different people that areall trying to catch the monkey. While the book is focused on them trying tocatch the monkey, there are also many small moments that release images oftheir real-life and how their day goes. This side-plot includes many smallermysteries. In this side-plot, you can see what Calista and Skylar's realintentions are. I would recommend this book to tweens because there are somemore mature parts in the book such as drugs and kidnapping. At the same time,the plot is very simple and humorous, so I think tweens will have the best timeunderstanding and enjoying this book. One of the most unique aspects of thisbook is how easy this plot is to follow. The plot is simple, but there is stillso much description and illustrations that are created in your mind. Unlikesome series, you didn't have to read the first book to fully understand thisbook. There are some parts that refer to this previous book, The Mystery ofthe Old Purse, but they are short references and they did not impact anyunderstanding of the plot. In conclusion, To Catch a Monkey bindstogether heartwarming moments, scary occurrences, and the true message thatthere are people in the world that have integrity. Not only do Sky and Calishow integrity and respect for others, but when they are showing it, they areteaching others how to show it. Some of the people they teach this too I couldnever imagine being respectful and ki