Good Night, Gorilla

My son has been reading this since he was 8 mos old, he loves to look at the pictures (there are minimal words) while I describe what is going on. At about 11 mos, when he got to the page where the zookeeper's wife finds Gorilla in bed, he laughed out loud! It's so cute to see him "get it."

As he gets older, there are many smaller details in the pictures that will catch his attention, so it's a nice book that will grow with him.

Goodnight Gorilla is a perfect bedtime book or for those young children just learning to read. The book has colorful illustrations and repetitive phrases that make it easy for young ones to understand and follow along.

Goodnight Gorilla follows a zoo keeper as he says goodnight to all the animals. The gorilla swipes his keys and lets all the animals out, which of course, follow the zoo keeper home and into his bedroom at night. My 2 year old thinks its hilarious. Its one of his favorite books. I'm so glad we got it. Its a real hit.

What a winner this book is! Great pictures. The repetitive phrases are repeated over and over by my liitle tyke. He has to hear it every night before bedtime and repeats the words as they are read.

My two sons (ages 5 and 4) have enjoyed this book for the last two years. While there isn't much text, the illustrations are so playful that we can't help but read the book as a three-person bedtime performance.

I can't speak for what little girls find funny but little boys find nothing more humorous than a gorilla climbing into bed.

There comes a point in the story when the zookeeper's wife turns off the light and tells her husband, "good night." The next page is pitch black filled with voice balloons from the zoo animals answering "good night." My sons love to read this part, using different animal voices.

In summary, this bedtime book is a sketch on stage. The more you and your kids add to the performance, the more fun you'll all have with the book.

This book is a keeper for all ages. Young children (and I mean really young, you'd be amazed at who will pay attention to these illustrations) can point out details and ideas with very few prompts. You can simplify your language when telling this story to a 15 month old, and then expand your vocabulary and sentence levels for older children. Even kindergarteners love this book. They can re-tell the story without being able to read. They can answer questions about characters, motivations, predictions. Please do not let the fact that there are not a lot of "written words" turn you off from this story. Every good storytime reader knows that descriptions, questions, and "what's happening here?" are most beneficial to young children.

Please give it a chance. Your child will love it!

(from an early childhood speech pathologist)