The authors clever illustrations make it easy to engage in the story and allow us to learn more about the characters than the words allow on their own. This would be a great lesson to do with the children. Particularly in a Year 2 class. When a lonely gorilla needs a friend, his keepers introduce him to Beauty, a gorgeous kitten. It's an unlikely pairing, but they hit it off immediately, and become inseparable. They love spending time together, cuddled up in a comfy chair, swinging from the light fittings, or even having a very happy poo side by side. When the gorilla does something he shouldn't, it looks like Beauty might have to go away. But they have to be together, don't they? They'll live happily ever after, won't they? This is a picture book because text and illustrations are interwoven. Simple text inspires beautiful illustrations. There is a narrative structure and a clear sequence of events in both text and pictures, enabling even non-readers to retell the book easily using just the pictures. Close-ups of the characters and details of illustrations convey a wide range of emotions and moods. Illustrations are oversized, making it easy for teachers to share them with the group. This book has the potential to be used with a wide range of ages. The striking, life-like illustrations draw in the attention of even the youngest readers. In essence this is a picture book, Browne’s enthusiasm lies in encouraging children to become readers of both words and pictures. The detailed illustrations frequently convey their own meaning, for example the explanation that the gorilla and the kitten ‘did everything together’ is accompanied by a humorous image of both animals sitting next to each other, each on the toilet! This book thus lends itself to being read without the text at first, children can have great fun simply looking at the pictures and making up their own version of the story. 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.

I've read and re-read Little Beauty. I've loved it every single time. I'm still not sure how it's possible for a picture book to be this good. I've probably rabbitted on more about why adults will love it, rather than why children will, but they really will lap it up just as much. I've gushed about many picture books, and I'm sure I'll gush about 40,000 more, but Little Beauty is firmly at the top of my most favouritest bestest ones ever. Yes, even better than Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd. I love it. If you don't buy it, I'll cry.

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This is a wonderful children’s book written by the award winning British author, Anthony Browne. This book is inspired by a real-life gorilla, Koko, who communicated through sign language. In this book a gorilla learns sign language and seems to have everything, but is still sad because he does not have a friend. The zookeepers decide to give the gorilla a kitten, Beauty, as a friend. The two become wonderful friends. One day the gorilla becomes upset when his feelings are hurt. Beauty shows what being a friend is in the end which will leave young readers learning a lesson of friendship. The illustrations are captivating and even humorous. Surely young readers will want to read the book several times. This book would be appropriate for grades kindergarten through second grade. The book covers childhood themes of friendships and anger. It would be a nice book for exploring character feelings and relationships with problems and solutions.

Yes, this is a retelling of the story of the real-life Koko, the gorilla who knows sign language, and her cat All-Ball, but recreated in Anthony Browne's signature style. The front cover alone has enough charm to carry this delightful book. The oversized pictures make this great for sharing with a group. Career choices in NZ at the time were heavily oriented towards agriculture, horticulture, or tourism, andit was about the time that New Zealand wine companies were starting to make their mark internationally.I loved how wine was such a social thing, and always focused around food too.Viticulture was an exciting industry to get involved with and I definitely wanted to be a part of it. Following the success of the sell-out first event, the highly anticipated event featuringLittle Beauty Wines is set to be equally as sought after. Creating bespoke, independent wine from the unique Waihopai Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand , Little Beauty Wines are only available on limited release, with annual production representing 0.00055% of the total global wine market. This cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. It also helps in fraud preventionsRioja The Rioja province of northern Spain is home to over 500 wineries making it the country’s wine capital. The region produces wines from a diverse range of grapes notably tempranillo and garnacha, as well as a number of others including garnacha blanca, graciano, mazuela, and maturana. We have been working on our Rioja Wines for a while now – and are pleased to have extended the list to include La Rioja Alta, Roda, Muga, Marques de Murrieta, Lopez de Haro, Ostatu and more. Explore our extensive collection of wines from the Rioja region and buy Rioja wine here. All bottles are available with a personalised gift note upon request.

From my range, no favourites.I love them all, for different reasons.From outside of our range, same – no favourites, as long as they have been made with integrity.I would also thoroughly recommend to invest in a good set of wine glasses (Riedel for example).Getting the right glass for the variety makes a huge difference.

Can you give us a bit of insight into your routine?Three words: tenacity, tenacity and tenacity.You’re grappling with seasons, exchange rate fluctuations, macro-economic issues that directly affect demand, working with multiple time zones and cultures…and drinking and eating A LOT. It takes you to incredible places and you meet incredible people in this industry….and you find the common thread – out and out passion (for the industry). Gorilla has everything he needs, but he is lonely. So, he asks his keepers for a friend, using sign language. They give him a kitten, Little Beauty, and tell him "Don't eat her." Tuscany Tuscany Wines are really a hot topic right now – and we are pleased to have increased our allocations at the top end including Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Tignanello and Masseto. We have also worked on the more everyday wines, including Tua Rita, San Polo and other wines from the Frescobaldi ranges.