Eccleshare, Julia (28 July 2000). "Portrait of the artist as a gorilla. Interview: Anthony Browne". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008 . Retrieved 26 December 2007. MANMADE SPACES — I’m talking about the power pylons and the tall buildings, shown to us only in silhouette, making them seem even more ominous. The parents have their own idea about how the day should pan out. It should be fun, dammit. Even though the boys are hungry, they are not allowed to eat until designated lunchtime. In this respect, the boys are like the animals, who must wait for their feeding time rather than hunting and eating according to their own rhythms. Anthony Browne: Children's Laureate 2009–11". Children's Laureate (childrenslaureate.org.uk). Booktrust. Retrieved 28 September 2013.

Anthony Browne takes on the lyrics of Animal Fair: A Spectacular Pop-Up with equal gusto. Readers first spy what appears to be a run-of-the-mill carousel, but a pull of the tab reveals ""The birds Continue reading » Kirsty is a first-class dreamer. her colourful fantasies of revelry and rivalry will have all young readers rooting for her. Clever, intriguing, and decidedly droll, Annalena McAfee's juxtaposition of reality and fantasy provides the perfect vehicle for the imaginative art of Anthony Browne.The people featured in the book are dressed in animal patterned clothing, having animal-like features or in some cases they are physically a bizarre mixture of human and actual animal whilst the animals themselves are drawn in an incredibly life-like and realistic way and Browne really shows off his mastery in his gorilla illustration. This book is an excellent example of the essential role pictures can play in a story as we can infer so much from them. Me and You (Doubleday, 2011) —a retelling of The Story of the Three Bears in a contemporary setting Hannah would like nothing more than to spend time with her father; except he’s always working, “not now, I’m busy, maybe tomorrow” is the usual response. The disappointment, isolation and sadness Hannah feels immediately echoes with the reader.

Look on a map to find the locations of zoos near to where you live. Could you plan a visit to a zoo? In this moralistic fable, the overworked and underappreciated Mrs. Piggott leaves her swinish husband and two sons to fend for themselves, and they literally turn into pigs. Ages 4-8. Continue reading » Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (MacRae, 1988) – an edition of the 1865 classic, highly commended for the Greenaway [11] [a] and winner of the Emil [15] NATURAL SETTINGS — The story has no natural setting at all, which is entirely the point. Although Browne’s critique of the zoo experience as Not Fun was new to picture books in 1992, there is a lengthy history of children’s storytellers subtley and not so subtley conveying the message that the country is wholesome and the city is dangerous for children, and that cities stifle childhood itself. He was a highly commended runner-up [a] for an edition of Alice in Wonderland (1988), [11] he won the 1992 Medal for Zoo [12] and he was again highly commended for Willy's Pictures (2000). [11]On Thursday morning at a quarter past ten, Joseph Kaye noticed something strange about the kettle,'' reads the intriguing first line of this imaginative picture book. Joseph's father tells his son Continue reading » It would be good for guided reading from around years 3+ as it is interesting and has a good mix of words. The boy narrator does not experience an “Oh my, zoos are horrible! I’m never visiting a zoo again!’ kind of epiphany. It would be unbelievable, and unlike a children’s story, if he did. Joycean epiphanies happen rarely in real life, and postmodern stories reflect that. This child’s naivety is established in the opening, when he uses ‘incorrect’ grammar ‘Me and my brother were really excited’. The introduction itself is naive, written in a ‘what I did on my holiday’ kind of way, as if required by his schoolteacher. One does not become all-seeing and wise over the course of a single outing. Katy lives alone with her dad by the sea and she likes it that way. Then, one day, the visitors come to stay, Mary and her son Sean. Now Katy has to share her house, her toys, her walks, her dad and she doesn't like it at all. Her hostility drives the visitors away, but eventually she comes around to accepting them. Hannah loved gorillas. She loved reading about them, looking at films about them, and drawing them. Unfortunately, her hard-working and rather distant father never seemed to have the time to take her to the zoo to see them live. He was always busy working in the evenings, or too tired at the weekend. Then, on the night before her birthday, Hannah dreams that the toy gorilla her father has given her comes to life and takes her on a magical night-time trip to the zoo, the movies, and a restaurant. It's a wonderful experience, but no more wonderful than her father's offer, the next day, to go to the zoo together...