
When Gorilla Goes Walking is a series of poems, not all the same, that tell the story of how Cecilia, the character and narrator, got her cat, Gorilla. After Cecilia's mom got the cat, the girl and the cat became best friends, though in the poem titled "Learning the Rules," we see who the boss really is! Cecilia and Gorilla have some misadventures, as well as some spats, but the story shows us that the girl and her cat are inseparable and how they comfort each other. The very last poem gives us a little reminder as to who the boss really is!
The illustrations seem simplistic at first glance. However, a second look shows that Gorilla is often illustrated toward the "front and center" of the page, with Cecilia off the side of the same page or next page. She is nearly always looking at Gorilla. Gorilla is often in a position of power, which parallels the message the texts sends us. When he's not, he is usually even on the page with Cecilia, implying a mutual closeness. The only exception is the very first page, where it's implied that Cecilia got Gorilla and she is with her best friend, whose name just happens to be Cecilia as well. All we see on that double page spread is the top of Gorilla's head and ears.
A fun read, When Gorilla Goes Walking could be used as a launch for all sorts of activities in our kindergarten classroom. I actually have five sets of students in my current class whose names rhyme. We could do a name walk around the class and try to pair them up. We would follow this up with an anchor chart and a rhyme walk through the book, looking for rhyming words. I would love to read this book in April (national poetry month) and go over the different types of poetry in the book, as well as try to create some poetry of our own.
You can't go wrong with Nikki Grimes and I would highly suggest adding When Gorilla Goes Walking to your own classroom library!
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