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Gorilla Loves Vanilla

by Chae Strathie , Nicola O'Byrne

9 Reviews

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A deliciously funny new picture book by Scottish Children's Book
Award winner Chae Strathie and Waterstones Children's Book Prize
winner Nicola O' Byrne.

When the animals visit Little Sam Sundae's ice cream shop on Jellybean
Street they have some unusual requests. Sam whips up blue cheese
sundae for Mouse and a worm cornet for Hen. Finally, it's Gorilla's
turn to order but all he wants is plain old vanilla. Licking
their lips, the other animals realise that Gorilla has made
the best choice, after all. Luckily for them, gorillas love sharing!

ISBN: 9781407148106
Pub Date: 7th April 2016
Publisher: Scholastic
Imprint: Scholastic
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 32

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Sparky Adult 349 book reviews

17th May '17

I read it to Hermione aged 8 aged 8 , to Skye aged 4 aged 4 & to Rocky aged 4 aged 4

A mouse, a cat, a chicken, a cow and a hippo all go into Sam's ice cream parlour to order some ice cream. They request crazy options such as blue cheese ice cream and worm ice cream (I think this book may give Heston Blumenthal ideas!) But Sam doesn't blink, he just serves them their unusual ice cream.

Then Gorilla enters the parlour and orders vanilla ice cream making the other animals regret their choices! Luckily gorillas love sharing!

A great book, with fabulous rhymes and lovely bright illustrations. The quirky ice cream flavours make my daughters laugh and it has a great message about sharing. It is a real lively book which makes it a pleasure to read over and over and over again!

gayleymoo-glasgow Adult 296 book reviews

19th July '17

I read it to Sam aged 7 aged 7 , to Matthew aged 5 aged 5 & to Sophiajane aged 6 months aged 0

We love this story with the crazy ice cream flavours and gorilla with his delicious vanilla ice cream at the end. My children love this as they always choose strange flavours of ice cream and laugh at me with boring vanilla! but just like gorilla, mum doesn't mind sharing!!

Really fun, bright illustrations that have plenty for discussion.

mairiface Adult 43 book reviews

1st September '17

I read it to decemberbaby aged 9 months aged 0 & to Preschool Green Group aged 2 to 5

Gorilla loves Vanilla

I think this is my favourite picture book discovery of the year so far! Sam runs an ice cream shop making weird, wonderful and hillarious desserts for 5 different animals, who are stumped, then jealous, when a gorilla orders a plain vanilla sundae.

The length, vocabulary level and sense of humour are all perfect for my class of 3 - 5 year olds, but I also think that younger and older children will find the book funny and appealing. The illustrations are bold but detailed, with lots of colour and movement, and who doesn't love a shiny cover? My pupils' eyes light up when we get to the big, vertical double spread with an ice cream sundae which is a foot tall! My favourite thing about the book is the ending, when we find out that the gorilla is happy to share his massive ice cream. It's a lovely ending and a great way to talk about how nice it is to share, but because none of the other animals have refused to share in the course of the book, it doesn't feel at all moralistic.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book and will be buying it as a gift for lots of children of friends.

Tina2202 Adult 39 book reviews

2nd January '18

I read it to Mars02 aged 5 aged 5

My daughter received this during book week at school. Was her classrooms favourite. So much fun and lots of colourful pages to explore. We have read it so many times together that she can now just flip through it herself.
Would absolutely recommend this book. Great for all the family.

HerTroginess Adult 21 book reviews

27th March '17

I read it to BentleyProwse aged 5 aged 5

My son chose This book at the school book fair. He is really excited by it. This book is really funny. The story is great and the pictures are brilliant. He loves the ice cream.

Tina2202 Adult 39 book reviews

5th December '17

I read it to Mars02 aged 5 aged 5

My daughter absolutely loves this story. She has read it so much that she now enjoys finishing off the sentences. Such a colourful, happy and fun book to read. Perfect for a snuggle on the couch.

Sam’s Mommy Adult 106 book reviews

10th May '16

I read it to Samuel aged 5 months aged 0

Gorilla Loves Vanilla is a real treat of a picture book. It's written in verse which makes it particularly fun to read aloud and gives the story great pace and rhythm.

Sam owns an ice cream parlour. His customers one morning are a mouse, a cat, a chicken, a cow and a hippo. They order ice creams but their choices are very unusual! Children will love the weird (and frankly revolting) ice cream flavours that the animals ask for.

The last animal to arrive is a gorilla. What will he order? There are no outlandish requests from him; he just wants good old vanilla. When his ice cream arrives, the other animals realise they were too hasty and begin to regret their choices.

Nicola O'Byrne's illustrations are a riot of colour and magnificent detail. From the end papers strewn with rainbow coloured sprinkles to the pre-penultimate double page spread, where a mountainous vanilla cone towers vertically, there's so much to look at and enjoy.

Gorilla Loves Vanilla will delight children and parents alike. It really is a mouth wateringly good read!

MollyT Aged 5 2 books

11th January '18

MollyT read it themselves aged 5 aged 5

my favorite book.

LucasChops Aged 5 138 books

21st June '16

LucasChops read it themselves aged 5 aged 5

Lucas absolutely adores this book. He is at an age now where he can start reading some picture books himself and the language in this is perfect. The rhyming text is fabulous, the illustrations are great and all the animals involved are familiar. Of course it also involves lots of different kinds of wackily flavoured ice cream (just the sort of thing small boys love to imagine). Always guaranteed to make a smile every time we read it

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