Do You Know the Monkey Man

Samantha’s quest to answer her questions about her past sets in motion a chain of events that will change her life forever.

For thirteen-year-old Samantha, life consists of too many unanswered questions. Why has her father not tried to contact her all these years? How could he have allowed her twin sister to drown in Clearwater Quarry when they were only toddlers? And how can Samantha’s mother expect her to accept some man she hardly knows as her new father? Samantha already has a father out there. Somewhere.

A fateful decision sets into motion a chain of events and confrontations that will change Samantha’s and her family’s lives forever. As she sets out to find her father and discover what really happened the day her sister was presumed drowned, she uncovers painful secrets that threaten to destroy her family all over again.

Readers will be drawn into Dori Butler’s dramatic, suspenseful, and sensitive story of one family’s crisis unwittingly brought on by an adolescent girl’s search for the truth.

Available in Hardcover, Paperback, Scholastic Book Club Edition, and e-book

Do You Know the Monkey Man

200 pages

Peachtree Publishers 2005; Revised and Updated in 2018

Hardcover ISBN: 1561453404; Scholastic Book Club ISBN: 0439862604

Reviews

“…middle-graders looking for a simple mystery will be pleased, and the story may inspire them to think about the concepts of identity and family that are threaded through the story.” ―Booklist

Awards

Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended Reading List (top pick, Middle School / Junior High) ―Kansas National Education CAssociation 2005
Best Children’s Books of the Year Teen Books List ―Bank Street College of Education 2005
Young Adult Top Forty ―Pennsylvania School Librarians Association 2005-2006
Emphasis on Reading Program (nominee, grades 4-6) ―Alabama Department of Education 2006-2007
Kentucky Bluegrass Awards (Master List, grades 6-8) ―Kentucky Reading Association, Kentucky School Media Association 2007
Mark Twain Readers Award (nominee) ―Missouri Association of School Librarians 2007-2008
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (nominee, grades 6-9) ―Maryland Educational Media Organization 2007-2008
Soaring Eagle Book Award (nominee) ―Wyoming Library Association, Wyoming State Reading Council 2007-2008
Charlotte Award (nominee) ―New York State Reading Association 2008
Iowa Children’s Choice Award (nominee) ―Iowa Association of School Librarians 2008