If you're asking yourself, Didn't Honey Bunch visit the Central Park Zoo in Honey Bunch: Her First Visit to the City (book 2)?, her visit to the monkey house there is mentioned in this book. It is Honey Bunch's first visit to the Bronx Zoo, though.

Grace Winters' dog, Teddy, is chasing a monkey. Honey Bunch doesn't get to see it because she foolishly followed Norman over the back fence and got caught by her skirt,. By the time she's rescued, she looks like her klutzy tomboy cousin, Stub.

Still, Honey Bunch will be able to see monkeys at the zoo when her mother takes her -- and Stub -- to New York to visit their Turner cousins. In the meantime, the monkey Teddy was chasing belongs to a local businessman, Mr. Jepson. He's offering a reward for its return. Once Stub arrives in Barham (not in the way she was expected), she's eager to find the missing pet.

Stub is unfortunate in living at a time before she could hope to wear the toughest jeans available because she's notorious for ruining her dresses. How she manages to ruin each dress during her search -- not to mention what should have been quiet games, is a running theme in this book. If I'd been her mother, or Honey Bunch's, I would have just bought cheap dresses in bulk.

Stub and Honey Bunch go to New York alone because Mr. David Morton's Great-Uncle Eben and Great-Aunt Trotty have written they're coming to visit. The David Mortons haven't seen them in 10 years, which means the elderly couple have never met their little great-great niece. Aunt Julia is David's sister, so they're her great aunt and uncle, too, but she's not asked to be understanding.

Naturally, Stub gets in trouble on the train -- more than once -- and Honey Bunch has to smooth things over. She does the same for the new hall boy at the Turners' apartment.

Still, the little blonde isn't perfect. When they do finally get to the zoo, she manages to frighten quite a few adults. Furthermore, Honey Bunch is as ungrateful and unrepentant as Stub is when she's saved from a fall that could have killed or crippled her.

Darn! The monkey house is closed that day. Will Honey Bunch's wish come true?

If you like the good, clean fun of children's series from the first half of the 20th century, you'll probably like this entry in the Honey Bunch series. ( )