- Picture Books
- Ages 2–6
- Animals
Monkey Puzzle
Part of Julia Donaldson & Axel SchefflerView the full series
Part of the Julia Donaldson universeOpen the collection
A funny jungle search story about a lost little monkey and a well-meaning butterfly who keeps finding the wrong animals.
- Best for2–6
- FormatPicture
- Length32 pp
- Read aloud~6 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Rhyming
- Repetitive
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Warm
- Gentle
- Cosy
- Heartwarming
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Little Monkey has lost his mum, and a kind butterfly wants to help. The trouble is that Butterfly keeps misunderstanding the clues: Monkey says his mum is big, so Butterfly finds an elephant; Monkey says she has a tail, so Butterfly finds a snake; and so on through a parade of jungle animals. The joke is simple enough for very young children, but clever enough to keep working: Butterfly does not realise that baby animals often look like their parents because her own babies are caterpillars. Julia Donaldson's rhyme makes the repetition satisfying, and Axel Scheffler's jungle animals are warm, expressive and easy to identify. Monkey Puzzle is one of the best Donaldson/Scheffler books for younger children because it combines animal learning, family reassurance and a perfectly pitched comic misunderstanding.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 2–6
- Read aloud · 2–6
- Independent · 5–7
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Bedtime
- Reading together
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
5 / 5 · Bedtime-friendly
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Jungle animals
- Family reassurance
- Younger preschool
- Rhyming read aloud
- Animal matching
Avoid if
- Wants high action
- Very sensitive to lost child scenarios
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Separation anxiety
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's modern rhyming classics — the gold standard of join-in read-alouds, ideal for prediction, sequencing and performing.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific charm is being smarter than the butterfly. By the second wrong animal, every three-year-old knows what's coming — a snake described as having a tail, an elephant described as being big — and shouts the answer at the page. The first picture book where a child gets to feel cleverer than the helper.
- Family belonging
- Animal companions
- Friendship and belonging
Why parents love it
The Donaldson for the toddler who can't yet sit through The Gruffalo. Shorter, simpler, but the rhyme and structural joke are already there — and toddlers love being the one in the room who knows which animal is the actual mum. Reliable repeat read for the two-to-four year shelf.
- Bedtime appropriate
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
- Educational for adult too
In the series
Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler.
14 books · open the series →
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Where you’ll find it
On these reading lists.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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