Killer Gorilla
Publisher: Andersen Press
Mouse begins a perilous search for her lost baby, and just when things look utterly bleak: out jumps a ‘Killer Gorilla’.
She entreats for help as she is chased across the world, until eventually she is resigned to die. But the gorilla has a surprise. He holds out her baby.
Themes of loss, aloneness and fear are cleverly handled. The story, told in the third person, uses exaggeration and repetition so that the reader appreciates the emotions without experiencing their full force.
By contrast Ross makes use of eyes to reveal feelings and the scale of the mouse in her vast environment to show us her vulnerability. The reassuring message is that even in a big scary world there are people to take care of us.
