Similarities

The “Summer of the Monkeys” movie and book do not have many similarities. The ones that they did have were the Lee house had the same components described in the book. It also gave the look of a 1850s home. Grandpa had a store where he sold goods to many of the Cherokee indians, the store was mostly the same as it was in the book even though it was in a bigger community. Another similarity was that Daisy, Mom, and Jay Berry all had the same names. During the plot, Jay caught the monkeys in the same way he did in the book, including the storm and finding the scared monkeys in a cave. Also, throughout the book and movie Jay Berry wanted a Paint Pony and a .22. These are some of the few similarities in the “Summer of the Monkeys” book and movie.

Differences

There were many differences between the book and the movie. The movie did not follow the same plot that Wilson Rawls wrote in the book, because of this the movie was confusing if you had read the book before. Some of the differences were that the monkeys names were different and they also had only four monkeys in the movie. In the book there were 29 monkeys and only one had the name of Jimbo. They had different kinds of horses and dogs used. One part that I found disappointing was that Grandpa was not as involved in catching the monkeys as he was in the book. Many of the plot changes were different too. In the book Daisy always used a crutch because of her crippled leg, in the movie there was no crutch. Another difference was that many of the legends, like the Old Man of the Mountains, The Fairy Ring, and Thor, were involving around Christianity, but in the book they did not. The last difference was that the movie left out some of the funny scenes in the book. Such as, Jay meeting Patricia, and Jay Berry getting drunk.

Opinion

Some of the things that I liked about the book was the ending. That was my favorite part in the whole book because of the happy ending, for everyone got what they needed and wanted. Also I liked how Daisy and Jay Berry became closer. In the movie they did not capture the same feel as it was in the book. Jay Berry did not get his horse or .22. Next time, the movie would be more enjoyable if they added the same ending that was in the book. The author also did a great job of how many times it took Jay to catch the monkeys. One part in the movie that I did enjoy was the kids that tried to catch the monkeys, they were funny and made the scenes more interesting. The book was wonderful and captured a really great story. The movie wasn’t bad, but I didn’t really like it because It didn’t follow the book. If I had not read the book I would’ve liked the movie.