Gorilla

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Anthony Browne was another author recommended to us at university, therefore I chose to read one of his books that we hadn’t discussed in class. I think that the book clearly demonstrates the impression that a significant other can have on a child within their early years. 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.

I really enjoyed delving into all of the possible meanings through the illustration and texts and figuring out what the author may have been trying to convey through some of these. Only just having read it, I was immediately transported back to childhood days of vulnerability, ambivalence and let-downs, but also days of fantasy filled adventures, fun and love. Themes of childhood loneliness is very strong in the first half of the story and whilst Hannah dreams of trips to both the zoo and cinema, it's nice that she actually gets an even better treat on her birthday. 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.However on the eve of her birthday something peculiar happens… She awakens to discover a gigantic gorilla at the end of her bed! He was once asked to present a children's programme, whilst sitting in a cage of gorillas, and despite being badly bitten by one of them he completed the interview before being taken to hospital. Nice, discreet things to discover within the images too; the gorilla Mona Lisa, Gorilla lamp, the banana in dads back pocket. Recommended to young gorilla lovers, and to anyone looking for children's stories about dreams, birthdays, and father-daughter relationships. That morning her father took her to the zoo for her birthday and her dream of seeing a gorilla in real life with her father was realized.

On the night before her birthday she wakes up to find a parcel, containing a toy gorilla, by her bed. I almost don’t like the way the story finished so quickly I feel as though there could have been an extension to the story of what happens to her father and her when they go to the zoo as a further extension to the story. Younger readers would enjoy the storyline, where older students could analyze the deeper concepts hidden in the storyline. Some of the images had a frame so it means we are looking into the child’s world and when there isn’t a frame its where we are part of the story and the illustrator really wants to raw us into the story. At first when reading this book, I was saddened by the nature of Hannah and her father's relationship and the impact it was having on her however the ending was a heart-warming surprise where Hannah gets what she really wanted all along, love and attention from her father!For more on postmodern picture books see David Beagley’s lecture on iTunes U, or my notes on that, here. He has been a keen speaker on children's books for over 40 years but now feels it is time to take a step back from public engagements, focusing solely on his studio work.