No Monkeys, No Chocolate

Everyone loves chocolate, right? But how many people actually know where chocolate comes from? How it's made? Or that monkeys do their part to help this delicious sweet exist?<br><br>This delectable dessert comes from cocoa beans, which grow on cocoa trees in tropical rain forests. But those trees couldn't survive without the help of a menagerie of rain forest critters: a pollen-sucking midge, an aphid-munching anole lizard, brain-eating coffin fly maggots - they all pitch in to help the cocoa tree survive. A secondary layer of text delves deeper into statements such as &quot;Cocoa flowers can't bloom without cocoa leaves . . . and maggots,&quot; explaining the interdependence of the plants and animals in the tropical rain forests. Two wise-cracking bookworms appear on every page, adding humor and further commentary, making this book accessible to readers of different ages and reading levels.<br><br>Back matter includes information about cocoa farming and rain forest preservation, as well as an author's note.