Praise for "Monkey World: An A-Z of Occuptations": Selected by the American Bookseller Association for the Fall 2008 Children's Indie Next List "With the same simple-yet-lovely art that made Count the Birdies and ABC such winning board books, Monkey World adds fantastic rhyming words to the merriment. Parents will not get bored by this one, even after hundreds of readings!" --Suzanne Perry, The Secret Garden Bookshop, Seattle, WA Seattle Magazine's Best of 2008 "Best Example of Monkeys Engaged in Nontraditional Employment " Our little evolutionary cousins aren't just cymbal players for organ griders anymore. These days, monkeys are astronauts, hula hoopers and ventriloquists - at least they are in Monkey World: A - Z of Occupations (Simply Read Books: 2008), local artist Matthew Porter's newest storybook that takes kids on a alphabetical tour of the working world. We grown-ups love it, too - his images appeal to the primate in all of us. Seattle Weekly Matthew Porter's new show takes us into a bizarre world in which goateed monkeys play bass, pirate monkeys battle giant sea monsters, and janitor monkeys cheerfully mop the floor. All these adorable acrylic paintings are from his eponymous Monkey World: An A-Z of Occupations ($16.95, Simply Read Books), an illustrated children's volume that aims to teach the alphabet via unconventional jobs like snake charming--my college major, btw--and ventriloquism. Porter's giggle-inducing exhibit can be enjoyed by adults and children, but the latter may need a gentle reminder later that becoming a gangster isn't the wisest career path to embark on.

Unless you're a monkey. - ERIKA HOBART.