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149th out of 2,254 books
—
3,516 voters
Good Night, Gorilla
Good night, Gorilla.
Good night, Elephant.
It's bedtime at the zoo, and all the animals are going to sleep. Or are they? Who's that short, furry guy with the key in his hand and the mischievous grin?
Good night, Giraffe.
Good night, Hyena.
Sneak along behind the zookeeper's back, and see who gets the last laugh in this riotous good-night romp.
Good night, Elephant.
It's bedtime at the zoo, and all the animals are going to sleep. Or are they? Who's that short, furry guy with the key in his hand and the mischievous grin?
Good night, Giraffe.
Good night, Hyena.
Sneak along behind the zookeeper's back, and see who gets the last laugh in this riotous good-night romp.
Board Book, 34 pages
Published
February 21st 1996
by Putnam Juvenile
(first published January 1st 1994)
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Jun 13, 2008
Chak
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
new parents
Recommended to Chak by:
Pam
Shelves:
kid
Good Night, Gorilla is the quintessential "first book" for very young children (6 months through to approximately 3 years). It has very few words (only "good," "night," "gorilla," "dear," "zoo" and the names of the five other animals in the book)and is brief.
Even read as merely a story, the book is engaging for a very young child, thanks to the bright colors, silly story line and playful illustrations. Where the book really shines however, is in all that you can do with it. You can start asking...more
Even read as merely a story, the book is engaging for a very young child, thanks to the bright colors, silly story line and playful illustrations. Where the book really shines however, is in all that you can do with it. You can start asking...more
Q LOVES this book! Why? I don't really know. But we must read it over and over. If we start a different book, she'll tolerate that for a bit, but then... she starts pointing to Good Night, Gorilla... "that! that!" It's the first book we read in the morning, and the last book we read before bedtime.
It is an awfully cute board book, and I appreciate the stereotype of the zookeeper's wife as the person who really gets things done. On a side note, how can anyone resist a book with a secondary plot l...more
It is an awfully cute board book, and I appreciate the stereotype of the zookeeper's wife as the person who really gets things done. On a side note, how can anyone resist a book with a secondary plot l...more
Oct 05, 2008
Jean O'Shea
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Parents, Teachers, Wobblers/Toddlers
Shelves:
lis565
This is an especially fun after hour’s trip to the zoo for the toddler set. Colorful pastel illustrations and playful details supported by repetitive text make for a lively bedtime story. I know, contradiction you may say, but it is a great book to share as your family prepares for slumber. After just a few reads, wobblers and toddlers will recognize the pattern and bid each animal, name, “Sweet dreams”. Each time I pick it up, I find something new...the character Babar in the elephant cage, the...more
This was one of my favorites when F was little. Maybe my favorite. The palate is different than every one of her picture books - it's soothing and refreshing. A lot of deep blues. It is simple enough for a baby/toddler to enjoy, but as you read it, you discover more and more fun details. One example - a helium balloon is released early on, and you (or your child) can then find it on every page afterwards, as it floats to the sky.
THere aren't a lot of words, but every word is interesting to a ba...more
THere aren't a lot of words, but every word is interesting to a ba...more
The zookeeper locks up the zoo and says goodnight to the animals, but he doesn’t realise that the Gorilla has taken his keys, and that the gorilla starts to set the other animals free. You need to get the children to look at the pictures to make sense of what is going on, and the great illustrations make it fairly easy for them to assimilate what is happening. I will keep this review simple and concise, just like the book itself. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it because I wanted to know what was...more
Your infant or toddler will enjoy this winsome story of an oblivious zookeeper making his final nightly rounds. Along the way as he says "Good night," to each animal--the usual cast of zoo animals which, as usual, somehow neglects the Platypus--his mischievous Gorilla friend casts each one free to follow him home.
The illustrations are simple, colorful and very cute. As with many good books for young readers, the narrative follows a simple, predictable pattern to aid in pre-reading word recogniti...more
The illustrations are simple, colorful and very cute. As with many good books for young readers, the narrative follows a simple, predictable pattern to aid in pre-reading word recogniti...more
Genre: Wordless Picture Book
Summary: This book only features one "phrase" paired with differing names. The book features a zoo keeper that is closing up at the end of his shift. He proceeds to tell each animal "goodnight." As he goes to each animal, the gorilla is right behind up unlocking each cage. The animals find themselves in bed with the zookeepers wife.
a) I thought this was a very cute book. The illustrations use very dark vibrant colors.
b) This is a really cute story that will be a sure...more
Summary: This book only features one "phrase" paired with differing names. The book features a zoo keeper that is closing up at the end of his shift. He proceeds to tell each animal "goodnight." As he goes to each animal, the gorilla is right behind up unlocking each cage. The animals find themselves in bed with the zookeepers wife.
a) I thought this was a very cute book. The illustrations use very dark vibrant colors.
b) This is a really cute story that will be a sure...more
1. Children’s Book- Wordless
2. As the zookeeper begins to lock up the zoo for the night, he goes around to say goodnight to all the animals. But it seems, with the help of the gorilla, all of the animals have another plan in mind.
3. Critique
a. The most interesting element of this book is the illustrations that are used to show the cute, loveable animals, and their mischievous ways.
b. Rathmann uses many recurring themes in her illustrations to intrigue the reader to keep reading. The element...more
2. As the zookeeper begins to lock up the zoo for the night, he goes around to say goodnight to all the animals. But it seems, with the help of the gorilla, all of the animals have another plan in mind.
3. Critique
a. The most interesting element of this book is the illustrations that are used to show the cute, loveable animals, and their mischievous ways.
b. Rathmann uses many recurring themes in her illustrations to intrigue the reader to keep reading. The element...more
Goodnight Gorilla is such an adorable story. A young gorilla happens to steal the zoo keys from a sleepy zoo keeper. The gorilla follows the keeper on his night rounds and lets out each of the zoo’s animals including an elephant, giraffe, a lion, and more. To each exhibit they go and each animal is released by the mischievous gorilla. After the rounds are finished and each animal is inline behind the keeper, they all follow him to his house and in they go. Each animal walks into his bedroom wher...more
Dad and I read this book yesterday, and we both loved it. Dad liked it because it was about a very smart monkey who lets all the animals out of their cages at the zoo. Because, as my Dad says, wild animals should not be kept in zoos. Mom disagrees. But Dad is right. Obviously. Anyway, this gorilla frees all of his friends, and they all sneak back to the zookeeper's house, and sleep in his warm bedroom... until the Zookeeper's wife hears them all say goodnight and leads them back to the cages. Bu...more
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Good Night Gorilla is a charming, nearly-wordless book about a gorilla living in a zoo. When the zookeeper bids the animals good night one-by-one, the gorilla filches the ring of colored keys from his belt and lets himself out of his cage. He then follows him around the zoo, matching the keys to the cages of the same color, and letting the animals out. The animals parade quietly behind the zookeeper as he walks home across a field, bids his wife goodnight and turns off the light. When all of the...more
This book is perfect for a three year old. It is really funny. The little gorilla grabs the keys from the unsuspecting zookeeper and lets out all the animals. Then the animals sneak over to his bedroom and lie on the floor and prepare to go to sleep, with the zookeeper and his wife on the bed. The wife turns out the lights and says goodnight to her husband, but gets way too many "goodnights" in return. So she has to get up and walk them back to the zoo and put them all back in their cages. All e...more
Hmm, I’m a bit torn on this book. Good Night, Gorilla begins with a zookeeper locking up for the night. The problem is the zoo, which is populated by the cell-like iron-barred cages that went out with Victorian menageries. Gorilla, a highly social creature, is caged all alone. And though the zookeeper is a kindly, chummy sort, the parallels between his locking of the cages and a prison warden’s nightly rounds are rather obvious.
If that were the gist of the story, my ratings would definitely be l...more
If that were the gist of the story, my ratings would definitely be l...more
"Goodnight Gorilla" by Peggy Rathmann is a great choice for a bedtime story because of it serene style and tone. The children will fall in love with the friendly cartoon zoo characters. The illustrations are all double page spread with a white border. The text is included only in the white and black conversation balloons that contrast from the bright pastel images. The illustrator uses a very vibrant medium with bright purples, yellows, and greens catching the reader's eye. The double page sprea...more
Dec 26, 2011
Candice
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Sophie
Shelves:
picture-books
Not many words and terrific, colorful illustrations make this appealing to even very young children. As the zookeeper locks up for the night, he tells each of the animals Good Night. When he passes the gorilla's cage, the gorilla reaches out and steals his keys. As the zookeeper passes each successive cage, the gorilla follows right behind, unlocking each one. Soon the zookeeper has a parade of animals behind him. They follow him into his house, and we see them settling down to sleep in his bedr...more
1 like · like · see review
A friend at work recommended some picture books to me recently; she has a background in speech pathology and gets these books for her own nieces and nephews and the kids of friends, and they've loved them. Most of them I hadn't hear of - I'm not sure about this one, sometimes it seems really familiar to me and other times I don't think I know it at all.
It's told mostly in pictures, the text consisting of, largely, the zookeeper saying good night to the various animals. It's very cute - the goril...more
It's told mostly in pictures, the text consisting of, largely, the zookeeper saying good night to the various animals. It's very cute - the goril...more
(Age 1) I loved this book even before Asher did. It has a really cute, funny premise, and almost no text. Asher really enjoyed the part when all the animals say "good night" and I really enjoyed the nice little visual touches (like looking for the balloon float away on each page, the toys in the animal cages, the people in the window watching the animals march across the yard).
2 likes · like · see review
The story itself is a little bit disturbing. I tried telling one of my friends how my son loves this book about a gorilla that follows the zookeeper around letting all the animals out and eventually ends up in the zookeeper's bed, and she was so creeped out that I had to get the book to show her that there wasn't anything truly scary in it.
In fact, the illustrations are downright cute, from the Babar doll in the elephant's cage to the picture of the gorilla with the zookeeper and his wife on t...more
In fact, the illustrations are downright cute, from the Babar doll in the elephant's cage to the picture of the gorilla with the zookeeper and his wife on t...more
Well, our three-year-old grandson came over yesterday and spent the night. We were in the rocker when he told me I needed to read him a book. I should have guessed that he would bring me GOODNIGHT, GORILLA.
He loves to have us read him this book. At the same time letting him tell us what is going on. The little stuffed animals in the cages. The movement of the mouse dragging the banana. The sheepish looks of the other animals watching the gorilla. The fact that the zookeeper is unaware of what i...more
He loves to have us read him this book. At the same time letting him tell us what is going on. The little stuffed animals in the cages. The movement of the mouse dragging the banana. The sheepish looks of the other animals watching the gorilla. The fact that the zookeeper is unaware of what i...more
We adore [u]Good Night, Gorilla[/u]! Its a picture book, and has very few words, but it is very endearing! As the Zookeeper says goodnight to all the animals, a mischevious little gorilla swipes the keys, and lets the animals out of their cages. The zookeeper ends up going home and getting into bed, tells his wife "Goodnight", and to his shock, he hears "goodnight" replies from all the animals, who are in his bedroom! The page with all of the "goodnight" responses was our favorite - we would rea...more
Oct 15, 2010
Slayermel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
parents of young children and preschool teachers
This has got to be one of my favourite children’s books. There are hardly any words in it which makes it great for all ages as they can use their imagination to tell the story in their own words as we flip through and look at what’s happening in the story. The Zoo keeper locks the gorilla in his cage and says “Good night Gorilla” and goes to walk away. The gorilla steals the keys from him and proceeds to let himself out. There is so much going on in the pages that the children in my class always...more
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. This book was nearly word-less and I still enjoyed it! The vibrant colored illustrations helped tell the whole story. The mischievous gorilla took the zoo keepers keys from the belt loop of his pants. As the zoo keeper was saying good night to all the other zoo animals one by one, the monkey was letting each and everyone out. The animals then follow the zoo keeper into his house, and find a cozy spot to fall asleep. When the wife of the zoo keeper hears the...more
This book has been my 7-year-old's favorite book since he was a toddler. We have read it until it has fallen apart. The nice thing about this book is that I enjoy reading it with him everytime we have read it (and that has been lots). I never get tired of this book. The book would be nothing without the correlating illustrations. It tells you page by page what is happening. Whether with or without words. This is one of the elimants that works so nicely in this book. Our favorite page is the one...more
The book is in landscape layout, is on a hard stock on a double-page spread. The landscape layout allows for the storyline (of the animals following the security man home) to have enough room to be portrayed. The characters and illustrations are quite cartoon-like. The typeface is in conversational balloons that appear above the speaking character. The book does not have any endpages and is not full-bleed illustrations, rather it has white borders. One interesting thing I noticed was the contras...more
This book will have children and adults laughing at the silly gorilla. The gorilla sneaks the keys to the zoo out of the zookeeper’s pocket, and unlocks he doors for all of the animals in the zoo as the zookeeper says goodnight to each animal. All of the animals follow the sleepy zookeeper home and settle down in his bedroom. The zookeeper’s wife finds all of the animals, and escorts them back to the zoo, but the sneaky monkey follows her home again.
The illustrations are very colorful and simply...more
The illustrations are very colorful and simply...more
With hardly any words goodnight gorilla does a good job telling its own story. Through out the book you see that you don't need words to tell this story. As the silly gorilla unlocks the cages to all the zoo animal as the zookeeper is trying to lock it up and says goodnight to each of them, the animals all follow the zookeeper to his home where the zookeepers wife discovers them once her husband has fallen to sleep and she returns them back. But the gorilla some how gets out again and goes back...more
Goodnight Gorilla is a fun picture book for early readers. It follows along a zoo-keeper as he leaves the zoo for the night, stopping by each cage to say "good night" to the animal inside. But he fails to notice that the Gorilla from the first cage has taken his keys and as the zoo-keeper passes each animal, the Gorilla is letting them out. Creating a growing train of animals that follow the keeper all the way home, and crawling into bed with him. The zoo-keeper's wife realizes this and leads th...more
This picture book is intended for Nursery aged children. It is about a gorilla from the zoo that causes havoc behind the back of the guard by letting all of the animals out and following him home. This illustrations are dark in color. There are no words until the last page. This book is really hard to "read" to kids. Are you supposed to make up a story yourself or is it meant for kids to be able to read to themselves? The illustration is very boring and dark and it lacks excitement. Only went th...more
The interesting thing about this cute little book is how there is no text to tell the story at all. Instead, the story is told through occasional speech bubbles with 2 or 3 words each, which I have never seen before in a picture book. In this book, a security guard of a zoo leaves to go home for the night, but a mischievous gorilla steals his keys and unlocks all of the other animals from their cages, and they follow him home, resulting in his flustered wife taking all of them back to the zoo wh...more
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