Hard for me to find the environment and situations in the boom believable, but definitely a good book about bullying and how it affects the tortured. ( )

Reviewed by Long Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY is a hilarious story of the life of Arty Moore, a fourteen-year-old teenager with growth hormone deficiency, hence his childish appearance and towering 4' 2" build. His twin brother, Kurt, however, seemed to get all the "good" genes and the similarity in looks between the two brothers seemed to stop when Arty stopped growing, and Kurt didn't.

Kurt loves tormenting Arty. Arty doesn't exactly appreciate the "brotherly love" being sent his way, and so he employs the help of a secret school organization with, frankly, more tricks up their sleeves than the KGB and Stalin's other two secret police, along with the Gestapo, combined into one. With the help of this underground alliance among students at his school, Arty plans revenge against his brother, but his problems are only beginning.

What wouldn't complete a great novel without a girl being involved, and yes, there is a girl. Arty is utterly infatuated with new student Leslie Dermott, but he can't quite figure out how got the attention of such a hot girl. Readers join Arty on his road trip to love as well as the pit-stop to the gas station of pain.

Extremely clever and hilariously written, Andrew Auseon gives us a character so obnoxious and self-righteous that even though we all know Arty is a complete jackass, we can't help but root him on in his eternal struggle to grow up, both literally and emotionally. Truly, this novel is a story of two brothers and the complex relationship two brothers can have.

Along with that, however, throw in confusing situations, smart literary puns that some readers will find intriguing, secret social groups, a Vietnamese kid who is ignorantly named Tibetan by Arty [typical], and the mysterious disappearance of the school mascot statue [a stone turtle], and you get FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY, Andrew Auseon's stellar debut novel and an incredibly funny and very, very, very clever and well-written story.

Cheers to A.A. ( )

http://booksareking.blogspot.com/2005/08/funny-little-monkey.html ( )