Good Night, Gorilla

Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (based on 174 customer reviews)

(Board book)
Edition: Brdbk
Author: Peggy Rathmann
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

List Price: $7.99
Amazon's Price: $7.99

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Most useful review as voted by customers:
48 out of 49 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/18/00

You'll Treasure this Book!

This book was read at a mixed-age party and I'm sure that the adults laughed as much as the children! It has quickly become a classic, featuring the cleverly pictured sneaky antics of a renegade gorilla.

Our young hero steals the keys from a zookeeper and frees all the animals, who follow the keeper home at night. Hilarious "lights out" confusion ensues with a comical surprise ending!

34 pages, with only ten different words, the expressive, colorful pictures say it all. This playful book is appropriate for infants, toddlers, and the beginning reader as well. A delightful romp, and a surefire hit! One of those few treasured books that you'll keep for years to come.

21 out of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 8/20/00

Very cute and a way to learn animal names

The story's in the pictures: a mischievious gorilla borrows the zoo keeper's keys and as the zookeeper is completing his rounds, the gorilla lets the animals out. The gorilla, with all of the animals following him, ends up in the zookeeper's bedroom.

The pictures are terrific, with a lot going on in the background. There's a little mouse toting the gorilla's banana, each animal's cage has a toy, and, of course, the zookeeper's wife's surprise and familiarity with the animals following him home.

My daughter's definitely picked up some rather complex animal names (e.g., giraffe, armadillo) and picked up on the gorilla's shenanigans pretty quickly.

Very fun book.

10 out of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 3/6/99

We read it every night!

My sister sent this book when my son was only a month old, and he has been read the book almost every day in the subsequent 15 months. With very few words, but the most expressive illustrations, this book tells the story of a naughty gorilla who frees all of the animals in the zoo and leads them into the zookeeper's house and bedroom.

Simple as it is, the book provides lots to talk about--the names of the animals as they join the line to the zookeeper's house, the little mouse with the banana, the toys in the animals' cages, the surprise of the zookeeper's wife when she realizes the animals have bunked down in her bedroom. (You almost get the feeling this is not the first time this has happened.) The little touches are wonderful, my favorite being the peeled and eaten banana at the end, after the little mouse totes it around throughout the book.

This is my favorite book of my son's and I believe he understands the humor of it. He's now climbing the stairs and I can get him up to his room by promising we'll read "Goodnight, Gorilla."

9 out of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 1/28/02

What happened one night when the Zoo went to sleep...

If you look at the title "Good Night, Gorilla" and immediately think of the classic "Good Night, Moon," you are not alone. But whereas the latter is about a little rabbit who is putting off going to sleep by saying "Good Night" to everything in the room, this little treat written and illustrated by Peggy Rathmann is about a zookeeper who WANTS to go to sleep and is saying "Good Night" to all of the animals in the zoo. What the weary zookeeper does not know, is that the gorilla has grabbed his keys and there is a growing menagerie following him home to his wife.

"Good Night, Gorilla," is simply a charming little tale, where the drawings communicate much more than the dialogue. I want to think of the art as being a cross between watercolors and pastels, but then what do I know about art? What I love best is to find the mouse with the banana on the string in each picture, and I bet your children will love that too when they discover it on their own.

9 out of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 12/15/06

A favorite for all ages

I used to read this to my preschoolers by request - it was a permanent fixture in our library and I was not allowed to swap it out for new books! My kids would look for it if I took it away and I would have to bring it back. The Gorilla lets out all the animals in the zoo and follows the zoo keeper home! Mrs zoo keeper is not amused with her roomful of animals and Mr. zoo keeper has to return all the animals to their cages.

8 out of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 8/19/01

I'm Still Finding Details in the Illustrations!

This is by far my favorite and my 21 month old daughter's favorite. The illustrations are amazing in their detail. I've been reading it to my daughter since she was about 8 months old, and I'm still finding fun "treasures" in the pictures - such as the people appearing in the window of the neighbor's house, the photo on the bedside table. There are so many others, but I don't want to give it away as the fun is in discovering. There is so much to this book with few words - my daughter gets different things out of it at different stages of her development. As an infant she liked the rhythmic "Goodnight Gorilla...Goodnight...Elephant, etc." and the bright colors. As she started learning animals, she loved pointing out the zoo animals. Later she was enthralled by finding the banana on every page. Lately she has been interested inthe different items in each of their cages. She was so excited the evening she realized the doll in the armadillo's cage was "Baby Ernie!". You won't be disappointed.

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