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English Awards

		RUTH AND SYLVIA SCHWARTZ CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARDS 2005 (ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL AND CANADIAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION) PICTURE BOOK CATEGORY MONKEY BUSINESS WALLACE EDWARDS ILLUSTRATIONS: WALLACE EDWARDS TORONTO: KIDS CAN PRESS, 2004. 28 P. ISBN 1553374622 AGES 8 AND UP
Monkey Business Source

Known for his award-winning book Alphabeasts, Wallace Edwards is also the creator of Monkey Business -- a very clever picture book in which short, idiomatic expressions come to life through the illustrations. Sometimes the expression is quite literal, such as "a bull in a china shop;" or else it takes on a meaning of its own, such as the dog that "learned to play by ear."

Edwards' illustrations showcase a fanciful gallery of portraits. Each idiom is represented by an illustration of an animal placed in an extravagant setting. The characters inhabit a world defined by a Victorian atmosphere, complete with dark and ornate upholstered furniture, lavish oriental carpets and intricate wallpaper with a recurrent motif of symbolic and zoological figures.

Most illustrations could be part of the same mansion except for a few that seem to depict the Canadian wilderness or the Scottish Highlands. An I spy feature adds to the interest of the book: a monkey is hidden in each illustration; it appears either within the design of the furniture or as an observer hidden in the landscape. This book is filled with humour for both the young and the adult reader. The meaning of each idiom is explained at the end of the book.

-JP