BIG GORILLA - A BOOK OF OPPOSITES
Learn all about opposites through internationally renowned master picture book-maker Anthony Browne's beloved primates.
What's the opposite of old? Young! What's the opposite of sad? Happy! But what's the opposite of opposite...?
Featuring a range of exquisite primates, from gorillas to chimpanzees, white-faced capuchins to orangutans, Anthony Browne has created a wonderfully unique first book of opposites, with his striking palette and quirky flair for facial expressions sure to charm readers of all ages.
ANTHONY BROWNE
s a child
Anthony grew up in a village called Hipperholme, in Yorkshire. He loved art and would spend hours drawing with his beloved father. He says of his father, "He was an unusual man - outwardly strong and confident, but also shy and sensitive - a bit like the gorillas I love to illustrate now. As well as drawing, he encouraged me to play a lot of sports, such as rugby and soccer and cricket. I was small for my age and I used to go to a fairly tough school - if I hadn't been good at sports, I would probably have been bullied."
As an adult
After he left school, Anthony studied graphic design and then went on to paint the insides of people's bodies for medical textbooks. He found this fascinating, but after three years found that the work was becoming repetitive "if you've seen one stomach operation, you've seen 'em all!" and instead began designing greetings cards. This in turn led him to illustrating children's books - his book Gorilla began life as a picture on a birthday card. Anthony lives in Kent and has two grown-up children.
As an artist
Gorillas feature in many of Anthony's books. He says, "I am fascinated by them and the contrast they represent - their huge strength and gentleness. They're thought of as being very fierce creatures and they're not." Anthony's illustrations also reveal his love of the Surrealist painters, whose pictures often depict strange, dreamlike scenes look out for all the disguised bananas hidden in Anthony's books! . When Anthony first has an idea for a picture book, he says, "it's a strange combination of story and images. Deciding what will be illustrated on the pages of a book is like deciding on the scenes of a film." Anthony has won many prizes for his work, including the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and the Kurt Maschler Award three times . In 2000, he received the highest international honour for illustration, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, for his services to children's literature - the first British illustrator to win the prize since 1956. From 2009-2011 Anthony was the sixth Children's Laureate, an appointment that recognises the importance of exceptional children's writing in creating the 'readers of tomorrow.' Speaking about this latest award, Anthony says, "I hope to encourage more children to discover and love reading, but I want to focus particularly on the appreciation of picture books . Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book."
Edad recomendada: a partir de 5 años
BROWNE ANTHONY
Sheffield, Inglaterra, 1946 . Aunque estudió diseño gráfico, en realidad quería ser pintor. Después de acabar la carrera se dedicó a hacer ilustraciones médicas para ganarse la vida. También incursionó en el campo de la publicidad, aunque no lo disfruto mucho, y dibujó durante muchos años tarjetas de ocasión. Finalmente descubrió los libros para niños, y en los treinta años que lleva haciéndolos ha producido más de cincuenta aunque sigue dibujando tarjetas de ocasión entre libro y libro . Su esposa es violinista y tienen dos hijos, Jospeh y Ellen, un perro y un gato. Este autor, considerado uno de los más importantes escritores e ilustradores contemporáneos de libros para niños y jóvenes, invita a sus lectores a desarrollar la capacidad de observación. En sus libros el texto y la ilustración están íntimamente relacionados. Cada paisaje, cada gesto de sus personajes, cada escena de acción, posee señas particulares que muevan al lector a mirarlo una y otra vez a la espera de enriquecer aún más la experiencia lúdica de su lectura. Anthony Browne acerca a los niños a mundos diferentes: al de los animales, al de los adultos e incluso a los suyos propios en una introspección que resulta enriquecedora y tierna a la vez.