Chen, Debby. Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in Heaven. (2001). Union City, California: Pan Asian Publications.

Monkey King lived hundreds of years ago on Flower Fruit Mountain in a kingdom of monkeys. What wants to help his monkey subjects form an army to defend themselves. This leads him to a series of encounters with kings and generals and the Jade Emperor of Heaven himself in which in his boldness, some might call it arrogance, he ends up wreaking havoc in heaven. Even though he is given much by a fellow king and by the Emperor, he always wants more. Hw takes what he wants and doesn’t thing about how his actions affect others or about the consequences for himself. The Emperor calls on Buddha, and he points out to King Monkey how unsatisfied he is has been even with what he has been given in Heaven. He sends King Monkey back to earth to stay trapped beneath a mountain that looks like Buddha’s hand for 500 years. Buddha hopes that King Monkey will learn to be satisfied with what he has.

Both young and older elementary students will enjoy this humorous and charming story with a clearly defined lesson. The illustrations are colorful and help the reader see what is happening in the story. The characterization of King Monkey is what makes this story unique. He is charmingly oblivious to the consequences of his actions and how they affect others. He just keeps doing inappropriate things in Heaven that always seem perfectly justified to him, from protecting his subjects to protecting himself from ever feeling pain and dying. ( )

Swollen by pride and self-confidence, Monkey King dives into the sea to wrest a powerful magic weapon from Dragon King. Returning to Flower Fruit Mountain with the weapon, an immensely heavy golden rod named Ruyi that can shrink and swell at the command of its wielder, Monkey King now feels that he and his kingdom are invincible. His arrogance annoys the residents of the heavenly realm who try to teach him some modesty. Unfortunately, when Monkey King is invited to heaven and realizes the heavenly beings’ plan, he trashes the whole place. Then the Buddha arrives first teaching Monkey humility and then imposing on him a half century penance.

Debby Chen’s adaptation of this sublime tale from the Journey to the West is beautifully illustrated by Wenhai Ma. ( )