Looking For The Easy Life by Walter Dean Myers

Looking For The Easy Life by Walter Dean Myers

Harper Collins Publishers, 2011

            Looking For The Easy Life is a great story to teach children the value of hard work. Five monkeys set off in search of the “easy life” that they think other animals live. They soon learn that other animals have to hunt for their food or do other forms of hard work in order to survive. The monkey whose idea it was to search for the easy life insists that they can find it, but with each try, he proves that it is better to just do your own work. In the end, you will be thankful for it and appreciate what you have earned.

            Reading a story like this to children allows them to realize that hard work is essential. Humans and animals alike must work for what they need. Food and other things (such as wants and needs), do not come to us without working for them. Children can journal write about a time when they had to work hard for something they wanted. They can also talk about allowances and chores they have to do, as a lot of children may have to earn these things at home.