Little Gorilla

So at one of my new jobs, I get to spend my day with children aged 0-3 years old. It is a lot of fun, and high energy. Every two weeks we get a new theme for our lesson plans and last week it was The Zoo. In the highest level we read a story, and the book for last week was Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein.

I have never even heard of this story before and so I was just as intrigued as the children! The basic premise is that this baby gorilla is born, and all of the animals in the jungle just love this tiny, cute, adorable gorilla. They all help take care of Little Gorilla, and take him for rides when he wants, and the Little Gorilla even wins over the heart of the snake in the jungle!

But then something begins to happen to Little Gorilla... HE GROWS! And now he isn't little anymore. He is a big gorilla. How is he supposed to be expected to maintain confidence in who he is if the very foundation of what he knows to be true about himself is no longer a reality, and what will the other animals think when they see him!?!?!?! Perhaps I find a certain amount of comradeship with Little Gorilla as I am also the Baby of my family, but it is my belief that going through this mind-altering experience is something that happens to every person at some point in their growing up process. And do you know what happened to Little Gorilla?

"Everybody still loved him."

Ruth Bornstein