Gorilla

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This story is of Hannah whom is a little girl, who wants nothing more but to spend quality time with her very busy father. The story starts off with her not spending much time with her father and being lonely and showing a small sense of neglect in the story with the bland colours. So, she has a dream about a gorilla whom takes over the fatherly figure and as the story progresses the child is happy as she is spending time with her father Hannah loved gorillas. She read books aboutgorillas, she watched gorillas on television, andshe drew pictures of gorillas. But she had neverseen a real gorilla. 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.

You’d better go in now, Hannah,” said the gorilla.“See you tomorrow.”“Really?” asked Hannah.The gorilla nodded and smiled. Understand how illustration and text contribute to meaning: This unit emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between text and illustration, demonstrating how they work together to convey a story’s message. 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...The best part with revisiting these is seeing the deeper meanings that you might have missed as a kid... 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. When they arrived at the zoo it was closed, andthere was a high wall all around. “Never mind,”said the gorilla, “up and over!” The night before her birthday, Hannah went tobed tingling with excitement – she had asked herfather for a gorilla! Come on then, Hannah,” said the gorilla,and he gently lifted her up. Then they wereoff, swinging through the trees towards thezoo.

The reader (along with Hannah) now learns that Dad really does think about his daughter. He has intuited that Hannah is fascinated with gorillas, and has planned exactly the birthday outing she has been dreaming about. He’s the sort of dad to hang Hannah’s pictures on the wall, framed. The young readers are left with the message that even when they feel that their caregivers don’t care about them, parents actually do love them, no matter what. This is a reassuring story: children will eventually receive the attention they crave. Look at the use of speech within the text. Could you rewrite the story as a play? Could you perform the play to others? Look at the patterns in the picture of Hannah’s kitchen. Can you see any examples of tessellation / symmetry / right angles? The text itself features relatively complex sentance structures so is ideal to read to a very young child or great to use to develope the reading skills of a more accomplished reader. Draw inferences from written and visual text: Students will enhance their critical thinking skills by interpreting the story and artwork, supporting their understanding of the characters.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. Could you create your own picture which is based on a famous work of art, but where the people are replaced with animals? However on the eve of her birthday something peculiar happens… She awakens to discover a gigantic gorilla at the end of her bed! Thus, beginning a magical adventure, the pair embark on trips to the zoo and cinema. On the night before her birthday, Hannah was ‘tingling with excitement’. Can you think of other ways to describe how she was feeling? The toy magically grows into a real life gorilla and adopts the father figure role by taking Hannah to all the places she'd hoped to visit.

They both crept downstairs, and Hannah put onher coat. The gorilla punt on her father’s hat andcoat. “A perfect fit,” he whispered.A lovely story about how a lonely and neglected girl living with her father finds comfort and joy in the thing she loves the most, gorillas! Willy the Wimp” is a humorous story written by Anthony Browne, which will appeal to all children due to its wittiness and hidden meaning behind the story. 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. If "Gorilla" (1983) was the book which made Browne's name as the artist to draw gorilla's, " Willy the Wimp " introduced us to his alter ego - "a chimpanzee living in a world of gorillas" according to Browne. Not a difficult relationship for children to identify with - the classic gorilla barging Willy off the pavement, the bully, the bodybuilder.

Afterwards the walked down the street together.“That was wonderful,” said Hannah, “but I’mhungry now.”“Okay,” said the gorilla, “we’ll eat.” Read this book in Spanish for Primary level. This book translates very well as it has simple sentences and the illustrations would really help the children to understand the story. After days of being alone, eagerly waiting for the attention from her very busy father, Hannah's toy gorilla becomes real and takes her on an adventure to the zoo, the cinema, a restaurant and the evening ends with a dance on the lawn. To Hannah's surprise, her birthday wish comes true as her father is waiting to take her to the zoo the next morning!

The story is about Willy the gorilla, who is a bit of a wimp. He decides to 'beef up' as he is fed up of being called a wimp, so he does this. Can he change though? A Browne classic although not so much of the magical realism. This is a "think-positive tale", the humour coming from our empathy with the classic underdog, his caricature modesty and puniness when compared with the burly gorillas, his character staying the same despite his inflated muscles, and his ego crashing at the end when he he walks into the lamppost. Gorilla’ is an intriguing picture book from the esteemed author and illustrator Anthony Browne. The narrative uniquely examines serious themes like loneliness and parent-child relationships through the lens of a human-gorilla transformation. Central to the story is a young girl’s solitude and her relationship with her father. The narrative is layered with subtlety, inviting children to interpret the story in their unique ways. The intricate beauty of the illustrations not only appeases the eye but also encourages children to share and revisit the book. Comprehend the core themes of the text: By exploring the themes of loneliness and parent-child relationships, students will gain a deeper understanding of the human experience. The illustrations are beautiful and really make the story come alive, and although children of primary level would not understand all the Spanish language and the sentence structure, it would be a fantastic book to read to younger KS2 students who were learning Spanish.