When Gorilla goes walking

When Gorilla goes walking

Citation:

Grimes, Nikki. When Gorilla goes walking. London: Orchard Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0439317702

Plot Summary:

                When Gorilla goes walking is a book written in verse using a child’s pet as the subject. Gorilla is the name of the cat and it the story begins with the introduction of Cecilia and her best friend also named Cecilia. Cecilia wants a pet because her best friend Cecilia has three brothers and she is lonely. From the introduction of Gorilla the story in verse tells of visits to the vet, the trouble Cecilia and Gorilla gets into, and how they care for one another.

Critical Analysis:

                Nikki Grimes is an author known for writing children’s books in verse. Her collections of younger children’s books include rhyming verses that children easily follow because of the repetition. The pictures in When Gorilla goes walking are abstract with the focus being on the poem. On most of the pages there is not a complete picture, but rather a portion of something on the edge of the page. The rhyming scheme flowed and ebbed throughout the book. She used haikus and

Reviews

Booklist: “In interlinked poems, Cecilia, a young African American girl, introduces her "cool cat,"---a fierce, tailless, gray shorthair named Gorilla. Written in a variety of forms, from rhyming couplets to haiku, the poems celebrate Gorilla's idiosyncrasies and "everycat" habits.”

School Library Journal: “Enormous, lively illustrations are paired with an equally bouncy text in this winning picture book. In a series of delightful poems, a girl introduces her cat, Gorilla, and describes her pet's many interests, talents, and behaviors.”

Connections

·         A Pocketful of Poems by Nikki Grimes

·         http://www.nikkigrimes.com/teacher/goril1.html

·         Chocolate Me! by Taye Diggs and illustrated by Shane Evans who also illustrated this book.