Girl & Gorilla: Out and About

Girl & Gorilla: Out and About

Meet Girl and Gorilla—a brand-new picture book duo from Rick Walton and Joe Berger! Girl and Gorilla are best friends. Girl and Gorilla want to play at the park. But how will they get there? They can . . . Hopscotch! Or jump rope! Maybe they can just close their eyes and wish they were there! But when they open their eyes . . . they are not at the park. Will Girl and Gorilla ever get to play at the park? PreS-Gr 1—Girl and Gorilla are friends on a mission to get to the city park. Dramatic and exuberant Gorilla thinks up creative, if a bit ditzy, methods to travel. Some of these methods involve hopscotching, riding elephants, and using his tail to jump rope to the park. Girl has a level head on her shoulders and reminds Gorilla that he doesn't have a tail. So, they walk and think, until—voila!—they arrive at their destination in no time at all. While at the park, Girl and Gorilla do all the activities they thought about doing to travel to the park. When it is time to go home, the silliness begins again, bringing the story full circle. Illustrations, dominated by blue, orange, yellow, and red, contain just enough city detail to portray a contemporary urban setting. Cartoonish Gorilla wears bright red trunks and a yellow banana shirt, sure to make kids smile. VERDICT Walton has created another lovely book to share aloud and encourage children to use their imaginations and think outside the box, just like Gorilla.—Mindy Whipple, West Jordan Library, UT “Kids who couldn’t get enough of the topsy-turvy friendship in OHora’s No Fits, Nilson! will appreciate this best-mate tale.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Girl and Gorilla are best friends. Girl and Gorilla want to play at the park. But how will they get there? They can . . . hopscotch! Or jump rope! Maybe they can just close their eyes and wish they were there! But when they open their eyes . . . they are not at the park. Will Girl and Gorilla ever get to play at the park? Rick Walton is the author of a lot of books for kids. He has written books about bunnies, bears, pigs, dogs, dinosaurs, bullfrogs, sheep, foxes, cows, cats, alligators, mice, and rats. But this is his first book about a gorilla. He lives in Provo, Utah, with whatever people and animals happen to be visiting at the moment. Girl & Gorilla is based on his life. He is Gorilla. Joe Berger is a children's author, illustrator, and cartoonist. In 2011 he was a winner of Booktrust's Best New Illustrators Award. He also makes prize-winning animated short films and title sequences and is cocreator of the Berger & Wyse food cartoon. Joe was the official illustrator for World Book Day 2010. He lives in Bristol, England, with his wife and three daughters.