It is hard to believe that anyone looking at the Monkey early childhood book series by Marc Brown did not see the racist stereotypes it perpetuates. However, this contemporary children's book series received nothing but positive reviews until Edith Campbell, a librarian and blogger who is a member of the See What We See (SWWS) coalition, came across the book. She shared the images with SWWS coalition members who were all horrified. As Campbell explains in her review:

Disturbing to me and others with whom I’ve shared the cover of this book is the fact that it was ever published with this anthropomorphic image that too closely resembles an African American child... A very brief history on how monkeys have been associated with people of African descent over time: “A hateful association between Blacks and monkeys or apes was yet another way that the antebellum South justified slavery. Blacks were considered by some Whites to be more simian than human, and therefore had no self-evident rights, including freedom.”