The monkey who became a king, and then later on became a hero. But forever be known as a trickster.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April 2001 (Vol. 54, No. 8))
Monkey King is the hero of the Chinese epic Journey to the West, an adventure tale on the surface, but underneath the story of pilgrims on a quest for Enlightenment. This necessarily highly abbreviated retelling is a stunningly realized visual tour de force. The physical and magical strengths of Monkey are evoked in the powerful curves and lines of his twisting, leaping body; the mystical elements of the tale are reinforced by an impressive foldout illustration of Monkey trapped in Buddha’s great hand. Young’s mixed-media collages--intense planes of color created with assorted textures of handmade and other paper--provide a continuity not easily found in the text. The source for this retelling is itself a fragmented adventure rife with the sudden appearances and disappearances of a huge cast of characters. Young states that “this adaptation attempts only to introduce the very beginning of this classic tale,” but even this small piece of the complex epic is sometimes difficult to follow. Nonetheless, scraps of bright paper in compositions of power and authority provide a visual feast, and the plot is action-packed, which should be more than enough to hold the attention of readers beginning their own journeys. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2001, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2001, HarperCollins, 38p, $16.95 and $16.89. Ages 7-10 yrs. ( )