One Gorilla: A Counting Book
The cover portrait of this counting book is a large, luminous image of the head and shoulders of a gorilla, both fearsome and vulnerable, and each of the primates featured in the following pages make clear the human connection, in both body language and facial expression. With the image of two orangutans, there is a nurturing mother, her baby in her arms. The spread for three chimpanzees shows a loving parent with two small, individual offspring. All the portraits blend mixed media and collage, and the faces look more and more human, right up to the double-page spread of 10 lemurs. Then comes the dual climax: first, a close-up self-portrait of the artist with his comment: “All primates, / All one family, / All my family.” Turn the page and there is a crowd of more than 20 individual human head-and-shoulders portraits across gender, race, color, age, all connected. “All my family. And yours.” A great spark for both science discussions and fun. Preschool-Grade 1. --Hazel Rochman