Little Beauty by Anthony Browne - review

Little Beauty by Anthony Browne
I am joined in my review of this book today by my friend Juicy, who is 5.

YNL: Juicy, say hello to the folks.
Juicy: [waves. Juicy likes to keep 2 fingers in his mouth]
YNL: Looking at the cover of this book, what do you think it's going to be about?
Juicy: It's about a guy who doesn't have a brain and who gets one.
YNL: That's not a brain, kid, that's a kitten on the gorilla's head.
Juicy: I SAID "FRIEND" not "brain".
YNL: Sometimes it's hard to understand you with your fingers in your mouth.
YNL: So here's the gorilla using sign language to ask for a friend, and here are his keepers. Can you tell what they're doing by the way they're standing?
Juicy: Thinking.
YNL: That's called body language, like the gorilla uses sign language. And then one of them has an idea. What do you look like when you have an idea?
Juicy: [Takes fingers out of mouth, crosses arms in front of him.]
YNL: How does the gorilla feel about his new kitten?
Juicy: He loves her!
YNL: How can you tell?
Juicy: Because she's cute?
YNL: Some people don't like cute. What makes you think the gorilla loves the kitten?
Juicy: Because the gorilla's happy?
YNL: How can you tell the gorilla's happy?
Juicy: Because he has a smile on his face. [Juicy is beginning to think I am a little stupid]
YNL: "They did EVERYTHING together." What are they doing here?
Friend the Girl (Juicy's sister, 8) interjects: POOPING!
Juicy: POOPING AND PEEING!
Juicy: He's SWINGIN ON THE LIGHT!
Juicy: He turned into a polar bear. He's turnin brown he's gettin dirty.
YNL: Uh-oh. What's happening here?
Juicy: The gorilla's angry at the TV. He busted it.
YNL (reads): "'We have to take Beauty away now,' said another."
Juicy: They're starting to cry because they love each other.
YNL: So what did the kitten do when they asked who broke the TV?
Juicy: He lied.
YNL: Do you think it's ok that Beauty lied?
Juicy: No.
YNL: Do you think the keepers believed Beauty?
Juicy: Yeah.
YNL: Really? So why did they let Beauty and the gorilla stay together then?
Juicy: I don't know. Because grownup cats can... It's the same as humans. Babies act different than kids, kids act different than grownups. So the the kitten acted... if that actually happened... I don't want to explain it because it's a long story.
YNL: But if they believed the kitten broke the TV... I don't get why they didn't take the kitten away.
Juicy: Me neither.

Ok, that didn't turn out how I expected. Well, we all really enjoyed the book, and Juicy kept his fingers out of his mouth kind of a lot. Cheers to Anthony Browne, wherever he is!