One of Edie’s favourite picture books is
Three Little Monkeys
Written by Quentin Blake and
Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
It is a brilliant book
Full of joy and mischief and laughter
Imagine her delight
When last Christmas Day
She unwrapped a Christmas book
Filled with silly seasonal antics
From Tim and Sam and Lulu
Three irrepressible naughty little monkeys
Now a firm festive favourite
We want to share it with you today
To celebrate Quentin Blake’s 90th birthday
This is
Three Little Monkeys at Christmas
And it is glorious

In a flurry of snow
Hilda Stibbs and her three little monkeys
Arrive at Uncle Gilbert’s house for Christmas
His house is filled with antiques
Statues, vases, clocks and
A very valuable golden teapot

In spite of all the valuables and treasures
Hilda and Uncle Gilbert still leave
The three little monkeys
Home Alone!
What could possibly go wrong?

The three little monkeys try to be good
But they soon get bored
And begin to misbehave
While Hilda and Uncle Gilbert
Buy a Christmas tree
Lulu, Sam and Tim
Climb into vases and
Dance with cups and saucers

Hilda cannot believe her eyes
When they return home
She tells the monkeys that
They must change their ways
And be good

When HIlda and Uncle Gilbert
Go out to buy party hats
The three little monkeys
Open all the drawers
Empty the cupboards
And pull off all the lampshades

Hilda cannot believe her eyes
When she and Uncle Gilbert return
“You naughty little monkeys”
She cries
“I should NEVER have brought you
Away for Christmas”

Edie loves joining in with this
Repeated refrain
And she also loves to try and copy
The monkeys big eyed innocent look

Hilda and her monkeys
Will make all mummies of multiples
Feel seen

All children will recognise themselves
In The Three Little Monkeys
Their mischievous ways
Their ‘Who me?” eyes
When caught in the act
Of being naughty
This brilliant and beautiful book
Is charming and funny
And the monkeying around
Is set against a gorgeous city townhouse
And all the Christmas trimmings

Hilda and Gilbert go out again
In search of holly and mistletoe
And the monkeys make merry mayhem
Again

As Hilda and Uncle Gilbert head out
One final time to buy some lovely presents
The monkeys are told by Hilda
To be very good indeed

And they try
They really do
But in the words of Matilda
Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty

As Hilda and Uncle Gilbert rush out
On to the beautiful snowy city street
They do not see a sinister figure
On the roof

All is forgiven as
The Three Little Monkeys
Save the day by saving
Uncle Gilbert’s treasured teapot
What wonderful little monkeys
What wonderful naughty little monkeys

Even when saving the day
The three little monkeys
Cannot help but be a little bit naughty
But that is the sort of thing you have to expect
If you invite three little monkeys to stay with you
At Christmas

To see just how these mayhem making monkeys
Save the day and the teapot
And almost redeem themselves in time for Christmas
You will need to read this gorgeous story
Filled with festive fun

A wonderful story
Adored by Edie age 5

Thank you Quentin Blake
For this story
All your stories
All your words and pictures
All your book magic
Thank you
And a very happy 90th birthday to you