The tale commences in Henan Province where the reader finds eleven year old Malao, Monkey, squeezed into a terra-cotta barrel along with his temple brothers Fu, Seh, Hok and Long. It is China in the year of the Tiger, 1650 AD and Malao is terrified to hear the rumble of thunder. It can only mean one thing; a dragon is part of the attack on the temple. The temple is the only home the orphans have known; the warrior monks are their family. Malao is certain that his older brother Ying, trained as an eagle by the Grandmaster, has returned to take revenge on the Master.

Sixteen year old Ying, the renegade brother who learned his own fighting skill along side the five younger child juveniles, has indeed returned with a vengeance and he is determined to eliminate the Grandmaster, demolish the Cangzhen Monastery and remove the sacred scrolls. Hooves of horses resound through the temple, weapons jangle and shrieks fill the air as warrior monks breathe their last. Cangzhen temple is soon reduced to blazing rubble. The thunder frightening Malao emanates from a powerful new weapon, a qiang. Ying carries the qiang which bestows upon him the power of the dragon. Ying had become a crazed, revenge driven dragon.

With enemy soldiers close behind, Malao did not have long to ponder why the Grandmaster had hidden only his four brothers and himself. Grandmaster’s words rang in his ears, ‘Uncover the past, for it is your future.’ Malao and his brothers are the only survivors of Ying’s attack upon the temple. Death of the Grandmaster, a distraction, missing scrolls, retrieving of the Grandmaster’s body, scolding monkeys, bandits, a slaughter, and a white monkey all are part of the tale. Malao is forced into a battle, Ying carries powered dragon bone, Fu is captured, a secret revealed, village children, and escape.

Well fleshed characters are depicted in kid pleasing manner in this fast paced escapade. Malao’s humor and prank driven temperament is something with which adolescents in the target audience of upper middle grades into high school can quickly recognize. Biting discourse between the various cast list is convincing as well as it serves to prod the yarn along at a ceaseless clip.

Writer Stone, himself adopted in infancy, draws upon his knowledge of martial arts as well as his familiarity as an adopted child for wanting to know his birth parents to produce an enticing peek into a timeless tale. Monkey is the second in ‘The Ancestors’ series in which five adolescent fighting monks become skilled at dealing with the misfortune of losing the only home and family they have known, along with their seeking answers to their hidden pasts.

Monkey is not for the picky. Ying is a terror producing rogue; furious battles are described in powerful detail in this chronicle filled with ferocity, machination, pretense and trickery. The description of five youthful warrior monks who managed to evade the seventeenth century desolation of China’s renowned Shaolin Temple is told through the words and actions of five youngsters; each of whom is named for an animal whose fighting skill they emulate.

Plot turns, dynamic impetus, mystification, all flow from the pen of writer Stone in this action filled sketch of perfidy, treachery and stratagem. Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend for the home pleasure collection, the classroom bookshelf and the home-school setting. Monkey will no doubt especially draw adolescent male readers toward the series.

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Reviewed by: Molly's Reviews

molly martin

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Genre: MIDDLE GRADES

Author: Jeff Stone

line/Publisher Yearling: Random House Books for Young Readers

 www.randomhouse.kids

ISBN 10: 0375830731

ISBN 13: 978 0375830723

TIGER