A Great Bedtime Read: Exploring Friendship in Gorilla Loves Vanilla

Everyone loves animals and ice cream. When you put them together in a colourful and funny book, you are all set. When my parents read it to me, I’ll always look out for the tiny details on each page: the animals hidden on the first page of the book, the details of each animals’ ice cream choice like worms for chicken or the dandelions for cow. This is one that is high on my list of favourite books. Now that I’m in primary school, I still ask my parents to read it to me because I had such good memories of it.

When I read it: Pre-school

Story: Various animals walk into an ice cream shop and choose flavors for themselves, until a gorilla comes in and orders… vanilla!

Illustration: Colourful pictures with great details on each page, you can almost taste the ice cream flavours

Overall (parents' view): A great bedtime book, simple and full-on opportunities for conversations about animals and about sharing

Animal Ice-cream

The book starts by introducing the street in which Sam's ice-cream shop is located. You can see the animals visiting the different shops before entering the shop. The story then captures your imagination with each animal ordering ice cream flavours according to their diet. The cow orders a cone of grass and the chicken a cone of worms!

The best part of the story is when Gorilla enters the shop and orders a flavour that everyone loves, that's... vanilla!

The illustrations are bright, bold, and full of detail. Each page bursts with color and my parents sometimes ask me to guess which flavours each animal would order.

Why This Book Is a Great Addition to Your Library (Parent's view)

Gorilla Loves Vanilla offers more than just entertainment. It provides a great chance to talk about how each person is different but someone have things in common (like vanilla flavoured ice cream). The book’s approachable length and engaging style also make it ideal for storytime at home just before bedtime. We certainly enjoy it!