Good Night, Gorilla

Remember the time I wrote about reading and all its gloriousness? No, well, you can read it here, if you'd like to get caught up on all that.

It appears that my plans for enlightenment and obsession are working. Gabe loves, loves, L-O-V-E-S, loves being read to. He even gave a pretty good rendition of what reading is to him the other day. It sounded a lot like la-la-la-la-la-la over and over and over as he turned the pages of his latest favorite book...

Good Night, Gorilla

Read it? Please Mommy?

This is a wonderful children's story that allows the children (or their parents, if the children are too young) to tell the story. There are very few words, but great illustrations. Each time I read it I find something new that the illustrator has put in to carry a theme from one  page to the next.

Reading this to Gabe has taught him many new words and allowed him to practice some he's already familiar with saying. Since the book arrived, he has been requesting to read it over and over several times a day. And, with each request we hear, "Goo-gah, goo-gah". Which of course, means Gorilla, Gorilla.

He points at all the animals and calls them by name. They aren't all correct, but he uses the same sounds for each one and he does pretty well with giraffe, mouse, lion, and Joe (the zookeeper). And, he'll say the others they just don't sound like they should. For instance, elephant is still pronounced "eluhpuhfunmunaheh-t".

Just look at the joy on that child's face.

The book begins like this...

"Li-yon?"

"Night...night....night....night....night."

"Mrs. Joe takes all the animals back to the zoo...."

Gabe's favorite page is the last one.

You'll have to read it to find out what happens.

Happy reading!