Gorilla

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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 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. Look at photos of different primates and draw your own pictures of some of them. You could also look at video footage of gorillas and other primates. For example: 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? 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.

Hannah and the gorilla see the primates at the zoo. Can you find out about primates? What different types of primate are there? How are they similar / different? 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 a short story about Hannah, a young girl who is obsessed with all things gorilla. The story implies that Hannah is from a single-parent family (although this is not mentioned explicitly) and whose father is always busy because of how hard he works. I don't want to spoil the story for you (because even as an adult, it's still a wonderful narrative), but Browne explores Hannah's fellings of loneliness, rejection and disappointment in the first part of the text. The second part of the text consists of a wonderful fantasy- classic childhood adventure material. The final part of the book is a happy ending of love and contentment.

Voices in the Park

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! Perform a reading of the story using expression to make it interesting to those listening. Use this video for inspiration: Write in-role to explore and develop an understanding of character: By writing from the perspective of the characters, students will gain a deeper empathy for them and a more nuanced understanding of their motivations and emotions. 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. A less well-executed story may have started with something like, “Tomorrow it was Hannah’s birthday…” It is particularly masterful that Anthony Browne withholds this information until the conclusion. Why? Because the brightness associated with birthdays lightens the ending. Since the first part of the book is melancholic, a birthday tone would not fit well.

On the night before her birthday, Hannah was ‘tingling with excitement’. Can you think of other ways to describe how she was feeling? They both crept downstairs, and Hannah put onher coat. The gorilla punt on her father’s hat andcoat. “A perfect fit,” he whispered.

The next morning Hannah excitedly jumps out of bed, sprinting, to tell dad her news of her amazing journey. He approaches her “happy birthday love, do you want to go to the zoo?” The reader can instantly feel Hannah’s joy, she is glowing with happiness; her one wish has come true. A feature of Anthony Browne’s work is that although the characters are depicted in almost naturalistic style, “in all styles we can only interpret faces with certainty as positive, negative or neutral in affect, with more subtle readings dependent on contextual and intermodal guidance. (Tian, 2011.) 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. The best part with revisiting these is seeing the deeper meanings that you might have missed as a kid... The illustrations in this book are good and funny and show the story well. Some of the illustrations do look a bit silly though such as the gorillas, who are body building. They look so silly that it made me laugh.