The Lesula ( Cercopithecus lomamiensis) seems to have escaped previous scientific notice because of its remote habitat, which was largely unexplored by professional biologists until recently. Steve Smallman worked as a children’s book illustrator for 20 years before he decided to ‘have a go’ at writing his own.

I've got 4 great children and although they're all adults now, my memories of them growing up inspire and inform my writing.It has a pink face, golden throat, massive whiskers and a vertical white stripe up its nose, which gives it some resemblance to the already well known owl-faced monkey. So, there you have it – in the blue butt monkey vs red butt monkey scenario, you decide on the winner. I can guarantee that they will giggle whenever they hear the word “bum” or see the monkey’s bright blue bottom. In fact they are really quite irked, so they decide to get their own back, and teach that cheeky monkey a lesson. The story is good for KS1, to help them to identify colours, patterns and all the different animals.

The blue perineum, buttocks and scrotum displayed by adult males are comparable in size and coloration in C lomamiensis and C hamlyni, and are more extensive than genital patches in any other Cercopithecus. The challenge for conservation now in Congo is to intervene before losses become definitive," say John and Terese Hart, who led the investigation team, in tinned quotes. It is a real page-turner; the rhyming verse, with four (or a couple of times, five) lines to each double page, serving both to move the story along, and to entertain. About the Author: Steve Smallman has taken up writing his own stories after illustrating children's books for over 30 years. Monkey is a little bit jealous of their splendour so when he finds a paintbox he decides to have some fun.

My 4 year old brings it to me weekly as one of our nightly books and my preschool class got quite the giggle when I read it for our lesson about mandrills.