Longlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal Although tinged with sadness, this is a good-hearted and entertaining adventure story with a good message about animal rights. Beanie is being treated for leukaemia but, when he comes across a young chimpanzee in a deserted house, he knows he must do everything he can to keep him safe from those who want to exploit him. Luckily, Beanie is very tenacious – and he has a lot of support from family and friends. Thanks to him, both he and his monkey friend are safe.
Nine-year-old Beanie’s coping with more than most kids his age, including treatment for leukaemia. But Beanie’s not bothered about that, he just wants to be part of his big brother’s gang of friends. To show he’s got what it takes, Beanie braves a scary deserted house where he finds a young chimpanzee. But where did Malcolm the chimp come from, how does he know sign language and who are the sinister men pursuing him?
David Gilman is the successful author of the Max Gordon: Danger Zone series of eco-adventures. Monkey and Me is his first standalone novel for children. David is also an award-winning screenwriter and has written for successful long-running series like Dalziel and Pascoe and A Touch of Frost. Before becoming a writer, David was a fire-fighter, a photographer and a soldier in the parachute regiment’s Reconnaissance Platoon.
