The Day the Jungle-Net Broke
Marleen Lammers and Ian Smith
New Frontier Publishing

Having recently moved back to the London area I encounter many more adults out and about with small children, mostly in pushchairs. I’d say that over 80% are playing with screens. It’s a joy to see a few others engaging with a board book or picture book, but if only there were more so doing.

Marleen Lammers’ story has a jungle setting and its main character is Miles, a monkey. Miles relies on his screen for virtually everything. The early morning Beep! Beep! beeping of the alarm wakes him from his slumbers and informs him that it’s time to do his exercises. Having done these, the creature is hungry and so uses his Just Peel app to order some bananas before his daily ‘tree-time’ face-call with his cousin.

In the middle of their chat, Miles’s screen freezes and he tries everything to get it back working, but to no avail.The Jungle-Net is Broken: disastrous news.

In the middle of Miles expressing his worries about what he won’t be able to do sans screens, he hears a voice from the ground. It’s a tortoise that suggests he uses ‘snail mail’ to communicate with his cousin. With no other option, Miles writes a note to Manny and leaves his i-tree for the first time in ages and starts walking. Yes, it does take him considerable time but it also means he can engage with the rainforest differently. In so doing, his hunger is stated and he feels energised on reaching the post office..

His return journey is even more fruitful and Miles even makes some real friends,

friends that he discovers he loves to spend time with exploring the jungle and having adventures.

Helped by Ian Smith’s bright jungle illustrations that bring the wealth of jungle fauna to life, this is an amusing, playful story that doesn’t ban screens completely, rather it encourages children to set them aside fairly frequently and enjoy engaging with friends in person, as well one hopes, with the wealth of exciting books for young children with stories for their own sake: what they offer is a place from which to become aware, aware of new worlds and ideas that stimulate the imagination.