Little Beauty

By Anthony Browne,

Book cover of Little Beauty

Book description

"No one renders primates with more faithful detail or surreal humanity than Browne." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A USBBY Outstanding International Book
An Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Winner
Three starred reviews (Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal)

Once there was a very special gorilla who had almost everything…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Little Beauty as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A sad gorilla who can use sign language asks the keepers for a friend. He’s given a kitten, and a wonderful cross-species friendship is born. I especially enjoyed the line “they did everything together,” which is accompanied by a humorous illustration showing the gorilla on a toilet and Beauty, the cat, in a litter box.

The artwork expressively captures the gorilla’s sadness, joy, worry, and anger. When a movie makes the gorilla so upset that he smashes the television, the keepers think they should take the cat away for her safety. However, Beauty hilariously changes their minds by signing that…

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