One Gorilla, A Counting Book by Anthony Browne

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AnthonyBrowne has long been a favorite of mine, his work appealing to the art lover in me. Browne's work is both painterly and includes references to the works of great painters. My reviews of How Do You Feel? and Silly Billy turned into retrospectives of his whole cannon of books. He was the Children's Laureate in the UK in 2009 and his first book was published in 1976 and there is so much to talk about whenever I think of him. Please read my other reviews of Browne's books, especially because his latest, One Gorilla, A Counting Book, while a magnificent work of art as always, is very light on story. Browne is a wonderful author and has written many truly moving, poignant picture books that often address the subtle (and not so subtle) emotions at play in childhood. If you know any of his works, then you know Anthony Browne is fascinated with primates and they often stand in for humans as characters in his stories. With One Gorilla, A Counting Book, Browne goes wild, literally. Ending with 10 lemurs, Browne paints primates to his heart's content. Having grown up near the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo, I have been happily watching primates for years and love seeing them in Browne's newest book. In classic Browne style, One Gorilla, A Counting Book he takes his story to the next level, making it about more than counting and primates. The final words of the book are, "All primates. All one family. All my family..." as we see in the image above. Then, "and yours!" on the final page with a crowd of faces as diverse (and similar) as the primates leading up to this moment.



From the Italian edition of ONE GORILLA, A COUNTING BOOK

Scenes from Browne's book from 1983, Gorilla, about a little girl who is enamored of gorillas and hoping her father will take her to the zoo for her birthday. When he cancels their plans, she takes her own imaginary adventure with a gorilla.



Anthony Browne at Seven Stories National Center for Children's Books in Newcastle, England, that featured a show called "Through the Magic Mirror, the World of Anthony Browne."







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