Good Night, Gorilla FROM OUR EDITORS
Unaware that a gorilla has stolen his keys, a zookeeper wishes all the animals good-night and sets off for home. A troupe of newly freed beasts follow the sleepy keeper back to his house and into his bed. When the keeper's wife wakes to wish her husband good-night, many good-night wishes come back to her from out of the dark!
ANNOTATION
An unobservant zookeeper is followed home by all the animals he thinks he has left behind in the zoo.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Good Night, Gorilla won the 1994 Cuffie for "Most Likely to Succeed in Years Ahead" and has more than lived up to that prediction, becoming a modern classic that is a must in every child's library.
This perfect package will give kids the opportunity to cuddle up with an adorable plush gorilla while they are enjoying his secret bedtime antics.
Author Biography:
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Universally understandable subject matter and a narrative conveyed almost entirely through pictures mark this as an ideal title for beginners. A zookeeper makes his nightly rounds, bidding good night to a gorilla, a lion, a giraffe and so on. He doesn't know that the gorilla has procured his keys and is unlocking each animal's cage; a jungly crowd files quietly behind the keeper as he walks home and crawls into bed. When his wife says, ``Good night, dear,'' seven voices reply, ``Good night,'' and it's up to the missus to return the mischievous menagerie. Although Rathmann's illustrations lack the artistic ingenuity she displayed in Ruby the Copycat and Bootsie Barker Bites , the author/artist connects with her audience on several levels. Children can identify with the animals, who have toys in their cages (the elephant has a plush Babar) and resist being left alone in their ``rooms'' all night; they will also enjoy some minor subplots. Some details prove questionable (for example, one overdrawn visage of Mrs. Zookeeper seems blurry, particularly because she's rendered with a few simple lines elsewhere), yet these considerations take a back seat to Rathmann's comic exuberance. Ages 3-6. ( Apr. )
Publishers Weekly
Peggy Rathmann's Good Night, Gorilla returns as a hefty, oversize board book. Of this tale of a sneaky simian who escapes from the zoo, PW said, "Universally understandable subject matter and a narrative conveyed almost entirely through pictures mark this as an ideal title for beginners." Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot
In this nearly wordless book young children will have a good laugh as they watch the zookeeper making his rounds and wishing the animals all goodnight. The clever gorilla has swiped the zookeeper's keys and as he visits each cage, he opens it and lets the animal out. As the keeper heads for home, the animals all follow along and join him and his wife for a good night's sleep. Or so it seems until the zookeeper's wife realizes that something has gone wrong when she hears a chorus of goodnights. She takes the animals back to the zoo, but our crafty gorilla is not one to be outdone. In this oversized board book, the large illustrations convey all of the detail and humor—from the lion licking its lips over a bone to the mouse pulling a banana that shows up again and again until it is finally just a banana skin on the very last page. 2004 (orig. 1994), Putnam, Ages 3 to 6.
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1-A mischievous little gorilla lifts the zoo keeper's keys on the first page of this sparely worded picture book. The brightly colored illustrations basically tell the entertaining story as the gorilla tags along behind the man, gleefully freeing all of the other animals, who then follow him single file into his neat little house. It is his unruffled wife who, without disturbing her sleepy husband, calmly returns the creatures to their cages. Even she, however, does not notice the wily gorilla, who, still in possession of the keys, returns to the house, slips into the big bed, and curls up contentedly between the people for the night. A clever, comforting bedtime story.-Jan Shepherd Ross, Dixie Elementary Magnet School, Lexington, KY
BookList - Ilene Cooper
In this limited-word picture book, a gorilla follows the zookeeper as he says good-night to his charges. What the zookeeper doesn't know is that the mischievous gorilla has snatched his keys and is letting out the animals almost as fast as the zookeeper can lock them up. The animals follow him to his house and into the bedroom, where, in an amusing pitch-black spread, a pair of worried wide-open eyes let the zookeeper's wife know that she and her husband are not alone. Jaunty four-color artwork carries the story and offers more with every look.
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