Beep

In the uplifting latest from Roorbach (Lucky Turtle), a girl and a monkey forge a life-altering friendship. The narrator, Beep, a restless squirrel monkey in a Costa Rican rainforest, leaves his family and sets out to find a mate, climbing his way toward a smoking volcano. There, he meets a girl named Inga, who’s visiting with her family from New York City. She feeds him pineapple before stowing him in her bag. The two communicate via grunts and agree that Inga will smuggle Beep home to Manhattan. Beep gets his footing there after chatting with squirrels in Central Park, dodging dogs, and, together with Inga, emancipating the animals on display at the Bronx Zoo. Amid the commotion, they take shelter behind the robes of two Buddhist monks, who impart advice to them about the value of loving and respecting all animals. As Beep’s relationship with Inga deepens, he learns more about himself and the world around him and resumes his quest to meet a mate. Roorbach maintains a steady supply of entertaining wordplay, as Beep phonetically reproduces what he overhears (“ladies and gentleman” comes through as “labies and genitalmen”), and the portrayal of Beep and Inga’s friendship convinces. Animal lovers will savor this. Agent: Emily Forland, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (July)