I really which they would have had this book when my children were little. The illustrations using monkeys is a great way to keep young ones interested. The use of this communication is a wonderful tool for children who can’t talk to relay what they want to express. I recommend this book for parents and daycares.

Play! Money! Play! by Laura Payne is nicely put together. It starts with suggestions on how best to teach your child sign language. Then it has how to best utilize this book given your child's age. The story was nice and each page had a sign to demonstrate on it along with a QR code. The illustrations were pretty simple, but I know that is not the main focus of the book. I received an advanced readers copy from Ninewise Publishing through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

I liked that this book showed how to sign. It's definitely helpful with kids as well. My child liked that the book was about monkeys and he was able to sign what he could. It's a cute book. I wish there was more.

I love this book! It’s perfect for anyone wanting to start learning ASL. It’s short, but packed with helpful tips and fun recommendations for kids. My son loves monkeys, so he was instantly engaged with the story—and the funny moments kept him laughing! The QR codes under each sign are a great feature; we loved watching the video demos together. The illustrations are vibrant and adorable, making it even more fun to follow along.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Laura Payne for the wARC!

I love this book! It’s perfect for everyone who wants to learn ASL. It’s short but it’s a good start to learn. It comes with tips and recommendations for kids. It also comes with QR codes under the signs that has video demonstrations. The illustrations are vibrate and adorable. The story is funny and entertaining.

I definitely recommend this !

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

I love this book! It’s perfect for everyone who wants to learn ASL. It’s short but it’s a good start to learn. It comes with tips and recommendations for kids. It also comes with QR codes under the signs that has video demonstrations. The illustrations are vibrate and adorable. The story is funny and entertaining.

I definitely recommend this !

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

Play! Monkey, Play! by Laura Payne is a joyful, engaging introduction to baby sign language that both little ones and caregivers will love. The bright, vibrant illustrations immediately capture attention and bring Baby Monkey’s playful adventures to life. Each page is thoughtfully designed, making it easy for young readers to stay engaged while learning. What truly sets this book apart is the clever use of QR codes—each one links to clear, helpful demonstrations of the ASL signs, making it incredibly easy for parents and caregivers to follow along and reinforce learning. A fantastic, interactive tool for early communication and bonding. Highly recommended!

A must-have for parents and little ones learning to communicate! #PlayMonkeyPlay #BabySignLanguage #NetGalley

Thanks to Ms Payne, Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book is amazing!
This book guides you step by step to teach your baby sign language, it includes pictures of how to make the signs, illustrations to keep your baby entertained qr codes in case you need more visual help, how to use the book all in the same neat book.
If I have children I will for sure use this book to teach my youngling ( and myself! )
Thanks to netgalley and to the author for providing me this eArc in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC digital copy.

This is delightful!!! I have so much respect to an author who can properly depict ASL to children. This is simply wonderful

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC digital copy. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.

Extremely cute book. Creatively teaches ASL with a playful story. The included photos demonstrating the signs are realistic.

4 out of 5 stars and my respect to the author and illustrator.

What a darling little book aimed at helping young children learn sign language! It covers a fun day in the life of a baby monkey and features images of correlating signs to practice on each page. I personally think all children should learn at least basic sign language and I can see this being a helpful book for learning. Will be recommending for my nephew and niece!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ninewise Publishing, and Laura Payne for the eARC of this children's book!

Animal books are usually a hit with my kids and this was no exception. They enjoyed the fun story and the cute illustrations. My younger toddler (1.5yo) lost interested a little over halfway through the book but it kept my older toddler (3.5yo) entertained the entire time.

As someone who's learning sign language at the moment, I was really intrigued by the description of the book. Combining children's fiction and SL or any language learning always is a neat idea!

However, the book is nothing what it promised to be.

The signs are in a corner with a creepy anime filter or generative AI photo – fingers and face blur into each other, I could barely make out what the sign is supposed to show. The monkeys do not communicate through signs, it's just a simple picture book with a monkey child and their parent playing together. Making it an ASL book seemed to be an afterthought rather than intentional from the beginning.
But afterthought or not, at least make the signs a bit bigger and don't put an unappalling Ai filter on the model. Or just photograph someone who's willing to have their face in a book.

Adding a QR code for the signs even seems more suspicious. Where does the link even lead to? I haven't tried it out, and I won't, and I'm also not sure how this makes sense for the target group. A child likely won't be interested in watching a video of the sign – they surely prefer to watch the monkeys play. And I read to go offline from the internet, not to switch back and forth.

The illustrations are cute, but also look like either GenAI and drawn over – or illustrated with an Ai filter smoothed over afterwards. Googling the illustrator and author didn't help as they don't seem to exist.

Unfortunately a very disappointing read, which I don't recommend. There are better children's books out there, and all of those basic 13 signs can be found on Youtube – without any GenAI, shown by real humans, no anime filters, no blurred lines.

~

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC.

Play! Monkey, Play! is a simple story with a few commonly used signs. My daughter is almost three years old, but often signs concurrently with her speech. She enjoyed this book. I like that the QR codes and pictures in the corner demonstrate the signs.

What a cool concept!! I love how it shows the signs in the corner. I couldn’t quite figure out how to get the QR code to scan when reading it from my phone, so I’ll have to figure that out later.

A cute little book. We loved the illustrations held his attention really well with the contrasting colours

Play! Monkey! Play! is an incredibly educational book that teaches basic sign language words and expressions, not only for infants but also for new parents. This book's approach is fantastic, the tips at the start on how to teach ASL and I appreciate that it included QR codes to view each sign in greater detail.

The story was appealing to young readers, and the illustrations were charming.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ninewise Publishing for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Play! Monkey! Play! Is a very cute learning tool for both babies and adults to help promote and facilitate early communication through sign language. The book focuses on common first words and pairs them with a QR code to scan and see the correct way to produce the ASL sign. I knew a few signs when my kids were infants, but this would have been a great tool to have to help expand their ability to communicate at an even younger age. A very unique book!

This is a super informative book not just for babies by also for new parents that teaches basic words and expressions in sign language. All of the words that was shown in the book are commonly used and relevant to babies and small children. The illustrations are also super bright and colorful so it’s very engaging to read. On the corner of each page of each bolded word/expression, it has a QR code and a demonstration of how to sign which makes it super easy to learn. As a parent myself, I learned a lot reading this book and wished I had known about this book when I had a newborn! I will definitely recommend this book to all the new parents!

This is a short little picture book teaching sign language words to babies. There are pictures of a person signing each sign as well as a QR code if further instruction is needed.