''Monsieur Eek'' is a short novel by American playwright
David Ives
David Ives (born July 11, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is perhaps best known for his comic one-act plays; ''The New York Times'' in 1997 referred to him as the "maestro of the short form". Ives has also written ...
, intended for ages 9–12. It was first published September 1, 2001 by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
. Set in 1609, it is about a chimpanzee who gets arrested for being a French
spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
.
''Monsieur Eek''
at WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
The book is based on a real law in medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
times that allowed animals to be convicted of crimes.
Plot summary
When a chimpanzee arrives in the tiny coastal city MacOongafoondsen during the Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
he is taken for a Frenchman. Arousing insular prejudice, he is put on trial on suspicion of being a French spy and the thief responsible for a string of local burglaries. He is defended by 13-year-old Emmaline Perth with the help of Flurp, the town fool. Eek ends up being found guilty. However, he is rescued and not hanged. MacOongsafooden's population starts to rapidly rise.
See also
*Animal trial
In legal history, an animal trial was the criminal trial of a non-human animal. Such trials are recorded as having taken place in Europe from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth. In modern times, it is considered in most criminal justic ...
References
2001 American novels
2001 children's books
American children's novels
Children's historical novels
Children's novels about animals
Fictional chimpanzees
Fiction set in 1609
HarperCollins books
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