What books are similar to The Monkey Goes Bananas?

The 10 closest matches to The Monkey Goes Bananas by C. P. Bloom on ReadingList include We Don’t Eat Our Classmates!, Escargot, Buz, Skippyjon Jones, and Substitute Teacher Plans. Each is scored on shared themes (monkeys, humorous stories, and determination (personality trait)), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades K–3), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.

Are books like The Monkey Goes Bananas reading-level appropriate?

Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades K–3), so the picks stay grade-appropriate. See how ReadingList judges text difficulty on the /standard methodology page.

How does ReadingList choose similar books?

Matches are ranked by shared themes, shared award and reading-program lists (two books picked for the same state award were chosen by the same committees for the same readers), same genre, comparable Lexile and grade band, and publication decade — computed from cited public curriculum data, not editorial opinion or AI-generated summaries.

Books like The Monkey Goes Bananas

If you liked The Monkey Goes Bananas, read We Don’t Eat Our Classmates!, Escargot, or Buz — the closest matches in our database, matched on shared themes, shared award lists, and reading level.

Closest match: We Don’t Eat Our Classmates! by Ryan T. Higgins — shares humorous stories

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Looking for books like The Monkey Goes Bananas by C. P. Bloom (Humor · grades K–3)? It’s most often read for its themes of monkeys, humorous stories, and determination (personality trait). The 10 titles below are the closest matches in the ReadingList database — each scored on shared themes, shared award lists, genre, and reading level, and each linked to the curricula, states, and grades where it’s assigned, with primary sources.

These are reading-level matches, not just topical ones — so the picks stay grade-appropriate for a grades K–3 reader. See how we judge text difficulty on our methodology page.

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Why each is a match

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We Don’t Eat Our Classmates!grades K–3: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Kentucky Bluegrass Award list (+1 more shared list), and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
Escargotgrades K–2: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Kentucky Bluegrass Award list, and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
Buzgrades K–3: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania) list, and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
Skippyjon Jonesgrades K–3: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania) list, and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
Substitute Teacher Plansgrades K–3: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania) list, and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
The Great Fuzz Frenzygrades K–3: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania) list, and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
Rhyming Dust Bunniesgrades K–2: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Kentucky Bluegrass Award list, and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
A Lion is a Liongrades K–0: Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Kentucky Bluegrass Award list, and same genre (Humor). Amazon → books like this →
Baby Monkey, Private Eyegrades K–3: Shares themes of monkeys and humorous stories and overlapping grades (K–3). Amazon → books like this →
Crash, Splash, or Moo!grades K–3: Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3). Amazon → books like this →

Books like The Monkey Goes Bananas for younger readers (K–2)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps K–2— same scoring, different audience.

Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).
Sam & Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).
This is My Book by Mark Pett · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).
Bubba the Cowboy Prince by Helen Ketteman · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).

Books like The Monkey Goes Bananas for elementary readers (grades 3–5)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps 3–5— same scoring, different audience.

Double Fudge by Judy Blume · grades 4–6 — Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania) list, and same genre (Humor).
Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).
Sam & Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).
This is My Book by Mark Pett · grades K–3 — Shares themes of humorous stories, same genre (Humor), and overlapping grades (K–3).
Banana Twist by Florence Parry Heide · grades 4–6 — Shares themes of humorous stories and same genre (Humor).

Books like The Monkey Goes Bananas for middle school (grades 6–8)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps 6–8— same scoring, different audience.

Double Fudge by Judy Blume · grades 4–6 — Shares themes of humorous stories, both on the Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania) list, and same genre (Humor).
Banana Twist by Florence Parry Heide · grades 4–6 — Shares themes of humorous stories and same genre (Humor).
Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes · grades 4–6 — Shares themes of humorous stories and same genre (Humor).
My Horrible Secret by Stephen Roos · grades 4–6 — Shares themes of humorous stories and same genre (Humor).
The Sixth Grade Nickname Game by Gordon Korman · grades 4–6 — Shares themes of humorous stories and same genre (Humor).

Books like The Monkey Goes Bananas for high school & teens (grades 9–12)

Closest matches whose grade range overlaps 9–12— same scoring, different audience.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison · grades 9–12 — Shares themes of humorous stories and same genre (Humor).
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas · 590L — Both on the Kentucky Bluegrass Award list (+1 more shared list) and the same era (2010s).
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon · grades 9–12 — Both on the Kentucky Bluegrass Award list (+1 more shared list) and the same era (2010s).
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh · grades 11–12 — Same genre (Humor).

Common questions

What books are similar to The Monkey Goes Bananas?: The 10 closest matches to The Monkey Goes Bananas by C. P. Bloom on ReadingList include We Don’t Eat Our Classmates!, Escargot, Buz, Skippyjon Jones, and Substitute Teacher Plans. Each is scored on shared themes (monkeys, humorous stories, and determination (personality trait)), shared award lists, genre, and reading level (grades K–3), and links to the curricula, states, and grades where it is assigned in US schools, with primary sources.
Are books like The Monkey Goes Bananas reading-level appropriate?: Yes — every match is a reading-level match, not just a topical one, scored on Lexile and grade band (grades K–3), so the picks stay grade-appropriate. See how ReadingList judges text difficulty on the /standard methodology page.
How does ReadingList choose similar books?: Matches are ranked by shared themes, shared award and reading-program lists (two books picked for the same state award were chosen by the same committees for the same readers), same genre, comparable Lexile and grade band, and publication decade — computed from cited public curriculum data, not editorial opinion or AI-generated summaries.

Book data last updated 2026-09-05. Matches are computed from each book’s cited attributes — see the methodology.

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