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"Goodnight Gilla"

A tale with few words, unless you made them up yourself

By cPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
3

Before I could read, I loved books. I'd sit with the pretty, hardcover children's books in my lap and stare at the pages, admiring the artwork and hoping that one day, all of the words on the page would make sense to me.

In a small, working-class family, my parents would ensure that I had enough books to fill my heart's desire and I can still remember weekends in the summer when my grandma would take me to the local flea markets and yard sales to find my next favorite story.

I don't recall how my parent's picked this book out, or when they got it. I do remember the nights they read it to me, or rather, narrated it themselves. Good Night, Gorilla has been around for a while, first published in 1994. I was born in 1998, so I'm assuming my parents got the book soon after, as there aren't many words to read to a baby, but rather an abundance of vivid images of animals to gaze at.

I was little, so I couldn't pronounce "gorilla" yet, but I loved the story so much I improvised when I asked for it each night.

"Gilla book, Gilla book" I would shout, as my dad recalls.

The "Gilla" - arguably the most lovable character

The premise of the story is a zookeeper, taking the time out of his eventing to lock up and say "goodnight" to each of his animals. What he doesn't realize, as he walks from cage to cage, is that his beloved gorilla has taken the keys from his belt loop and follows quietly behind, unlocking the cages of each animal as they move along.

You may assume the animals run amok, or try to find their way back into the wild. This is not a story of animal liberation, but rather, of animals finding their way back to the zookeeper's bedroom for a cozier snooze.

The unaware zookeeper and his animals

My favorite part of this story: the zookeeper says good night to his wife and turns off the lights. All the animals' sets of eyes peek out from the darkness. Sadly, he realizes his room is filled with furry friends (though how safe it is to sleep next to a lion, I'm not too sure). He leads the animals back to their cages, the gorilla last, saying good night to each all over again.

It wasn't the illustrations that captured my attention as a child, but rather how my parents told the story.

It was the way the story was read to me that made it so special.

My dad was theatrical about this book each time he read it, changing the dialogue, creating side stories, and even giving different voices to each animal, having them speak back to the zookeeper.

Some days the zookeeper was angry to find all these animals in his room. Other days, my dad would close the book halfway through the story and send me to bed, imagining that the zookeeper had let the animals stay for one big slumber party overnight.

I loved that this story could change and where it could be taken, with little context or words. I would have my parents read it to me multiple times a night and often it was the only story I wanted to hear, as it was different every time.

My parents would often tuck me into bed after several reads, shutting off the lights with the casual "okay...goodnight Gilla", which was sure to send me off with giggles.

I still have my thick, ragged copy now, as an adult. I hold it dear to my heart, as I'm sure my parents hold the memories of reading it to me.

book reviews
3

About the Creator

c

writing as release

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