Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do

Five Little Monkeys

by Eileen Christelow

When five little monkeys ask for something to do, cleaning the house for Grandma Bessie's visit isn't exactly what they had in mind. But leave it to those mischievous monkeys to find a way to make housework fun . . . and messy! Features Eileen Christelow's irresistible monkey art in a sturdy board book edition perfect for repeat readings.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Animals, Family, Fiction, Summer

28 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Eileen Christelow is an acclaimed American author and illustrator of children’s books, best known for her beloved Five Little Monkeys series. Beginning with Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, a playful retelling of the classic nursery rhyme, the series has captivated generations of young readers with its humor and rhythmic storytelling. Over the course of her career, Christelow has published more than 30 books, encompassing both fiction and nonfiction, and many inspired by her surroundings in Vermont, her family life, and even her dog, Emma.
Born in Washington, D.C. in 1943, Christelow spent her formative years in Connecticut and briefly in Japan, where she attended the American School in Tokyo. She studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, a discipline that would influence her later work in design and illustration. After working for several years as a freelance photographer, she turned her focus to writing and illustrating picture books while raising her daughter in California. Her earliest works, Henry and the Red Stripes and Mr. Murphy’s Marvelous Invention, were published by Clarion Books in the early 1980s.
Christelow’s books often celebrate storytelling, curiosity, and mischief, appealing to children and educators alike. Titles like What Do Authors Do?, What Do Illustrators Do?, and Vote! provide engaging nonfiction content for young readers, while others such as Letters From a Desperate Dog and The Great Pig Escape draw on humorous real-life scenarios. Her works have received numerous accolades and several Five Little Monkeys titles have been translated into Spanish and Chinese.
She continues to live and work in East Dummerston, Vermont, in a home designed by her husband, where she draws inspiration from the natural beauty of the state. Christelow remains a cherished voice in children’s literature, with a lasting legacy of entertaining and educating young readers.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mama sets the five little monkeys up for failure when she has them clean the inside of the house before sending them outside to do some very dirty chores. The inevitable ending irked me.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really really funny! I would read it again!

[Kristen Dutkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

When these five little monkeys complain there is nothing to do, their mama gives them something! Chores for all! But does the house really stay clean until the end?

A cute, entertaining story that also teaches children about responsibility.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

We have, as a family, enjoyed the "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" book, and thought that this might be fun as well. The children will isten to it when it's read aloud at bedtime, but it's never a first choice to have read. Perhaps the 'moral' is a little too strong, or perhaps it's too simple, or perhaps it's just no fun to be shown how good little monkeys listen to their mother and clean their room, and the bathroom, etc. In any case, this just doesn't quite get us excited.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Five Little Monkeys books are always well done by this author. In this book, the 5 monkeys need to get ready for the grandmother coming to visit. They clean up their rooms, take a bath, and pick berries for their grandmother. In this process, they mess up their rooms and dirty up the bathroom again. They are shocked when they come inside with their grandmother to see what a mess it is. "Who messed up our nice clean house?", they ask. It is so funny as a kid, because you see them mess it up themselves without realizing. It is just funny and I love the illustrations as well.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five Little Monkeys With nothing To Do by Christelow_ Eileen
Cute children's story about 5 monkeys, it's summer and there's nothing to do. Mother has some things for them to do...
their grandmother is coming. Problem is monkeys get into a lot of trouble...
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[Robin Coral · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is been a family favorite mostly for our 2 to 3-year-old but our five-year-old has enjoyed it almost just as much. Lots of humor with these little monkeys. Lots of giggles from the children listening to the book. For a bilingual book I really love that it shows the English and Spanish with lots of repetition.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those five little monkeys: such irrepressible antics!

Hilarious picture book, right at your fingertips, Goodreaders: Be sure to turn to the illustrations of these playful monkeys cleaning up. (Pages 14-15 are my faves.)

Funniest of all is the ending.

FIVE STARS for a superb job.
Thank you, Eileen Christelow, writer and illustrator.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do (Paperback)
by Eileen Christelow
the bane of all parents when the kids were home for the summer may just get things done around the house to entertain the kids. but does not work out well

[CC's Books · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be the worst children's book I have ever read. The text is clunky. You want it to rhyme or have rhythm, but it doesn't. At times it feels like they just published the first draft of a story board.

[Mh Weyler]

Another favorite! This author has done several "Five Little Monkeys" stories. They are all quite hilarious. Maybe best appreciated by someone who has several kids because, once again, I can see myself and my 3 little monkeys in this story.

[Awjtf · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny 5 little monkeys!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

My granddaughters can't get enough

[Haaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one had us shouting oh no! at the end. It was a silly book.

[Shaumbra Papritz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute one! Illustrates how when one is bored there is always something to do! And how quickly messes can reappear!

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read to my daughter and I think she actually liked it. Was one of my favorites as a kid

[Goshen PL Childrens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read at Pringle Park book giveaway. Those monkeys get into a pickle again ... even if they don't jump on the bed.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mischief in this series can be frustrating and obnoxious. It was hard to watch them only sort of clean the house and then destroy it again.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eveey mother can relate to this amusing story line. Great illustrations!

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so relatable!

3/17/25 Read with Charlotte

[Lynnette · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute little bored book. my toddler loves these. the illustration are fun and the story is really cute. as the one who's reading it it gets old pretty fast.

[Amanda Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for a child leaning about chores and how to do chores the right way. The monkeys do their chores and make a mess while completing them so they end up having to do them again later in the day.

[Kiana Gerard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do is the sequel to Eileen Christelow's famous Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree. This book is fun for all ages. When the Five Monkeys are stuck in the middle of summer with nothing to do, Mother sends the five little monkeys on outrageous tasks to get ready for Grandma Bessie's visit. Christelow brings wit and humor to all children!

Just by looking at the cover of the book, you can sense the boredom on the monkey's faces and positions of their bodies on the couch. There is only one dead giveaway about the plot of the story. On the corner of the title page, Mother stands beside the monkeys with a smirk on her face and a broom in her hand. Before even reading this, I thought there was going to be cleaning involved. The fun font of the title is very eye-popping and invites people to come and read this book. The illustrations are cartoonistic and have many colors. Flipping though the book, the illustrations are blocked off my thin line borders, like if the illustration was trapped in a photo frame. The text is both quotations and descriptive text. Each page has at least four short sentences that blend in with the illustration.

Christelow's sense of humor is scattered throughout her book. Mother sends the five little monkeys to clean their room, bathroom, beat rugs to prepare for their Grandma Bessie. When Mother orders the monkeys to go pick berries, they get muddy and mess up the whole house again! Christelow's humor is relatable to more younger children tan older. Christelow also portrays aspects like obeying your parents and doing daily chores. Her book makes it fun for children to learn that cleaning or doing chores can be fun. I expected the book to be just as great as Christelow's first book. I was not disappointed. All kids will love this book!

[Bryant Schumacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do, featuring the recurring cast of primates from Eileen Christelow’s series, are experiencing some downtime over the summer. With suggestion from the group’s mother, the monkeys spend the majority of the book cleaning their room, scrubbing the bathroom, doing laundry, and getting dirty enough in the process to do it all over again. There is decent flow to the story and is geared toward teaching principles of cleanliness and household chores.

Christelow’s adolescent illustrative aesthetic should find itself appealing to children. Compositions are relatively simple with slightly textured watercolor elements. The images leave little to the imagination, though, as most of them are greatly self-explanatory. This, however, is welcome under the context of a children’s read-along. Not exactly the most exciting visual content, but effective nonetheless. The compositions serve their purpose, and that’s all you could really ask for in a children’s book. However, those who have been exposed to classic illustrators of children’s classics (Winsor McCay, for example) would probably be left wanting more.

Eileen Christelow’s “Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do” should apply in most kindergarten to 3rd grade classrooms as an introduction to basic chores and household maintenance. Target audience: four to eight years and up.

[Miranda Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was rather humorous because the five little monkeys try to help out their mother clean the house in preparation for their grandmother’s visit. What was funny about it was that the little monkeys were so focused on getting the cleaning and chores done, that they ended up getting themselves all dirty. For example, while beating the rugs, the rugs ended up getting clean, yet all of the dirt ended up on the little monkeys. Also, when they went to pick berries, they stomped in mud. The mother had asked the little monkeys to get cleaned up and changed because their grandmother was almost there. Well while they were rushing to get cleaned up and ready, they ended up tracking mud into the house and throwing their clothes all over their room because of their hurried actions. It was funny because the little monkeys were so proud of all of their hard work to clean, but they ended up making a mess again before the grandmother even got there. This book really shows the challenges of living with kids and trying to keep a neat house. This reminds me of my childhood because my mother would always joke how things couldn’t stay clean. This would be a good, light-hearted book to have in my library. It is also a good emerging literature book because of the repetition of phrases.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when you are one of the 5 little monkeys and have nothing to do. Mama puts you to work helping to clean the house. This book shows so perfectly how much time people spend cleaning and how easy it is to mess things up. And experience I think every mom has had over and over again.

* Talking Points - what are your chores at your house? What do you parents suggest that you do when you tell them you are bored and have nothing to do? Keeping a home clean takes a lot of work, do you ever help out without being asked? How do you thank those that help keep your home clean?

** The Essential Oil Pairing Tip with your book depends on your need: If you want something to diffuse while reading the book, try doTERRA's Motivate essential oil blend - it's great to motivate people to get up and clean! If you're wanting to clean with essential oils try dropping 3 drops OnGuard and 3 drops Lemon in a spray bottle. You love how it cleans and how great it smells.

[Mariah Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do is only one short book in a series of the Five Little Monkeys books about counting. It's summertime and the 5 siblings are bored because they can't find anything to do so Mama gives them chores to get the house neat and clean before their grandmother comes. On every page the five monkeys are shown doing chores like picking up their bedroom until there's no clothes on the floor, scrubbing the bathroom until it was shiny and clean, and go pick berries for dessert later. The hilarious twist on the story is when they return home from picking berries and are so muddy that they make the entire house a mess again and undo all their hard work! These books are great for young elementary readers especially those learning how to count.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

We picked this book up from our local library.

Yet here we are again with another funny monkey book. I really liked this one as it gave me ideas to use to get my son to do some chores. Being a parent I hear the "I have nothing to do" a lot especially during the summer when he is use to school. So reading this book I was like hmmm gonna have to try something like this the next time I hear those words. All the hard work the monkeys do only to end up back where they were at the beginning I can see why momma monkey needs help! Messy little monkeys. K's favorite part was the ending where all their hard work was a disaster.
A repetitive book that is a great read for all and the illustrations are awesome.

[Ina · Rating 4 out of 5]

With great illustrations and the repeated phrase of "we have nothing to do", the famous (infamous?) five little monkeys get into trouble again. Mama comes up with a number of activities (like cleaning their room, and scrubbing the bathroom) to keep them occupied, and this works well - until she sends them down to pick some berries for Grandma Bessie's arrival...and they return dirty, muddy messes. In getting ready for Grandma's arrival they undo all their hard work and mess up the lovely clean house! After reading this book I pulled out a "Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed" flannel and we chanted it together. The kids and Moms loved it and participated with great enthusiasm.

[Alexis Jennings (ASU) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A family of monkeys tries to keep busy after plenty of boredom. Mama suggest they get the house clean when Grandma Bessie come to visit. After celeaning their rooms, scrub the bathroom and beat the rugs, the houe looks flawless. The Five Little Monkeys do a fantastic job until they decide to pick some berries for Aunt Bessie.

The illustrations fill the pages with bright colors. With so many characters, it's fun to examine all the details the illustrator portrayed. Even though the main characters are monkeys, they are very realatable to how they dress and act. Since there is very little test throughout the book, a reader's eye will go straight to the illustrations.