Reviews

Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

felinity's review against another edition

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4.0

Wasn't as big a hit as "Goodnight, Moon" but still loved it for the silliness and for watching the gorilla.

Edited: second child loves it, especially pointing out the mouse.

keepcalmreadon's review against another edition

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5.0

My son loves "Good Night Moon" so I decided to get him "Good Night Gorilla" since it was also about saying "good night."

Good Night Gorilla is one of the sweetest kid's books I have ever seen. The pages are very colorful and vibrant and the words are simple and easy to read. The story setting is at the zoo. The zookeeper is putting the animals to bed and saying good night to each, one by one. What he doesn't know is that a mischievous little gorilla has taken his keys and let himself out of his cage. What follows is a hilarious little escapade by the gorilla and all the zoo animals!

One thing that is different about this book, is that some of the pages actually don't have any words to read on them. The pictures are supposed to be story enough on the pages without words. At first, I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to keep my son's attention, but it's hard if the book doesn't have words on all the pages. After thinking about it, I decided to make up words on the pages that didn't have any. My son loved it, and didn't even know the difference! It was more fun for me too. Just a little imagination goes a long way!

You can tell this is one of his favorite books by the condition that it is in. We read it so much that it's falling apart now and probably time to buy a new one!

ryckmanreader's review against another edition

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5.0

Brief summary This wordless book follows the gorilla through the night time routine
Annotation - This is a great book to share with children and show them all the small details in the illustrations.
Age appropriateness 0- 7year olds
Connection to six early literacy skills
Print Motivation - The illustrations make this book one children will want to read over and over.
Narrative Skills - This allows the reader to become the storyteller
Opinion - I personally enjoy this book every time I read it because of the illustrations and the expression on the gorillas face is wonderful.

rjvrtiska's review against another edition

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4.0

Good silly fun in an accessible format.

Mother Tongue Notes: I used this with reluctant speakers and had them take turns narrating the action in each picture. The picture where all the animals say “good night” was a good prompt for lots of different voices. Some students weren’t familiar with hyenas or armadillos.

mmparker's review against another edition

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5.0

Perhaps the book my toddler interacts with most. There's a lot going on in the background, and she loves pointing it.

arieanna's review against another edition

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5.0

A classic book that is super open ended. A huge favorite.

inthecommonhours's review against another edition

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5.0

This was Aidan's #1 bedtime pick for the first 2 years of his life. I think he just loved the image of the gorilla sneaking into bed with Mom and Dad (his dream come true). I love simple books like this, with very little narration, but with great attention to details. We love finding the red balloon that is set free on page one and gets higher (and smaller) throughout the book. Or noting where's the banana. And our boys love the black page with just a pair of eyes as the Zoo Keeper's wife realizes her bedroom is full of zoo animals.

I know that is a lot to write about a book with all of 5 sentences of text perhaps. But it is one of our best-loved board books, so if you're looking, definitely check it out.

jesab's review against another edition

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5.0

April's Wheel of TBR
Read a kids book that starts with a G

klnbennett's review against another edition

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4.0

Sweet and gentle story with very few words. Great illustrations and a funny punchline.

laura_mcloughlin's review against another edition

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4.0

Read this to my new nephew today. Not sure how I missed it before but a pretty cute book.