Gorilla

Product Information

In the middle of the night, Hannah woke upand saw a very small parcel at the foot of thebed. It was a gorilla, but it was just a toy. Anthony Browne". Author & Illustrator Archive. The Wee Web (theweeweb.co.uk). Archived from the original on 22 October 2008 . Retrieved 26 December 2007. urn:oclc:834148184 Scandate 20110829041657 Scanner scribe1.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Worldcat (source edition)

Although very sad at the beginning I found this story to be refreshingly honest and deeply gratifying. Exploring feelings such as loneliness, anxiety, excitement and contentment, through simple effective text and beautifully persuasive illustrations, Browne creates a real sense of what it is like to be a child. Hannah loved gorillas. She read books aboutgorillas, she watched gorillas on television, andshe drew pictures of gorillas. But she had neverseen a real gorilla. Hannah loved gorillas. She loved reading about them, looking at films about them, and drawing them. Unfortunately, her hard-working and rather distant father never seemed to have the time to take her to the zoo to see them live. He was always busy working in the evenings, or too tired at the weekend. Then, on the night before her birthday, Hannah dreams that the toy gorilla her father has given her comes to life and takes her on a magical night-time trip to the zoo, the movies, and a restaurant. It's a wonderful experience, but no more wonderful than her father's offer, the next day, to go to the zoo together...Jane Doonan, "The object lesson: picture books of Anthony Browne", Word & Image 2:2 (1986 April–June), pp.159–72. Hans Christian Andersen Awards". International Board on Books for Young People ( IBBY). Retrieved 23 July 2013. Browne, Anthony". Original artwork from children's book illustrators. Images of Delight. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007 . Retrieved 26 December 2007.

What would you like to do now?” the gorillaasked. “I’d love to go to the cinema,” saidHannah. So they did. On the night before her birthday, Hannah was ‘tingling with excitement’. Can you think of other ways to describe how she was feeling? There is no comfort in this house — not even a sofa to sit on, and no carpet. Notice the map of Africa on the wall — a part of Hannah’s imagination. The truly masterful part of this illustration is that the light coming out of the television turns the pattern on the wallpaper into butterflies. The light coming out of the television is Hannah’s only company — her only brightness in an otherwise dark home environment. Although very sad at the beginning I found this story to be refreshingly honest and deeply gratifying.The book could be used as a class story because of the numerous talking points i.e. discussing Hannah’s emotions (there is a wide range throughout the text), whether animals should be kept in the zoo (Hannah says she feels “sad” when visiting the zoo) and the depiction of a single parent family (Hannah’s mum is absent from the story). The story could also help inspire creative writing; children could develop their own adventure/dream stories with their favourite animal. Or alternatively children could write a letter to Hannah’s Dad (or vice versa) explaining how she feels during the first part of the book, this activity may be better suited to older pupils.

Gordon Fraser became a close friend and taught me a lot about card design which was to prove very useful when I came to do children’s books. I experimented with many styles and many subjects from snowmen to dogs with big eyes to gorillas. I sent some of my designs to various children’s book publishers and it was through one of these that I met Julia MacRae who was to become my editor for the next 20 years. She taught me much of what I know about writing and illustrating children’s books. When he finished school Browne intended to become a painter, but being short of money he took a job as a medical illustrator, producing detailed paintings of operations for Manchester Royal Infirmary. After three years he grew tired of the job's repetitiveness and moved on to design greeting cards for Gordon Fraser. He designed cards for five years before he started writing and illustrating his own books.The night before her birthday, Hannah went tobed tingling with excitement – she had asked herfather for a gorilla! The gorilla took Hannah to see the orang-utan,and a chimpanzee. She thought they werebeautiful. But sad.

Browne's debut book both as writer and as illustrator was Through the Magic Mirror, published by Hamish Hamilton in 1976. A Walk in the Park followed next year and gained a cult following [ citation needed] and Bear Hunt (1979) was more successful commercially. [9] His breakthrough came with Gorilla, published by Julia MacRae in 1983, based on one of his greeting cards. For it he won the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. [10] Browne's books are translated into 26 languages and his illustrations have been exhibited in many countries including; The United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, France, Korea, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and Taiwan. He currently lives in Canterbury, England. Through this story, I was questioning a few things such as why is the father not talking to his child throughout the beginning book and where is the child’s mother. I was also wondering what the fathers job is as he works when the child is at school and he works at home. I was also wondering what happened at one section of the story as the child didn’t really have dinner it went from her sitting in her room to her then waking up after the dream I felt there was a chunk of the story missing and that there was more that was needing to be said.The next morning a very excited Hannah rushes downstairs to tell Daddy all about her adventure, but before she can say anything Daddy wishes her a Happy Birthday and asks her if she’d like to go to the zoo! Hannah is extremely happy. Come on then, Hannah,” said the gorilla,and he gently lifted her up. Then they wereoff, swinging through the trees towards thezoo. D. Martin, "Anthony Browne", in Douglas Martin, The Telling Line: Essays On Fifteen Contemporary Book Illustrators (Julia MacRae Books, 1989), pp.279–90. Afterwards the walked down the street together.“That was wonderful,” said Hannah, “but I’mhungry now.”“Okay,” said the gorilla, “we’ll eat.”