Buddy

William Joyce's Buddy is a warm, funny and sometimes sad animal story for 9 year olds about a gorilla who wears a suit and loves anything red.

What happens

It starts in 1930s New York, where you might spot a lady called Gertie Lintz out for a stroll with a very smartly dressed gorilla. How on earth did he get there? That's the whole story.

Buddy begins as the littlest gorilla in the jungle. Gertie begins as a girl who can't bear to see an animal locked up. By the time they meet she has chimps in pyjamas, a leopard called Boo, a Komodo dragon under the sofa and a dachshund who wears glasses (his name is Lancelot).

Who wouldn't want to live in that house?

Tiny, sick Buddy only settles when the chimps tuck a red blanket round him. From then on, red fixes everything. Red ties. A red carnation. A red lollipop that's especially large. He grows and grows until he's bigger than a man and needs his suits made to order.

The best bits are properly funny. A shopping trip to a very posh department store. An outing to the cinema that goes wrong when Tarzan fights an alligator. A World's Fair where Buddy draws bigger crowds than the world's largest light bulb. Charlie the parrot gets some of the best lines.

It's worth saying that the start is sad. In the second chapter men with torches and guns come in the night, and Buddy's father and mother are both shot. It's quick and it's right at the beginning, but for a child who finds harm to animals upsetting it's a hard opening. Later on, a frightened grown-up Buddy smashes up a room, and at one point police point their guns at him.

For an animal lover who can manage that start, it's a lovely read. Gertie adores Buddy and keeps working out what he really needs, even when the answer isn't the one she wanted. There's a short note at the end about the real Gertie Lintz too, which a curious reader will probably love.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, try The One and Only Ruby. Ruby is a baby elephant who was orphaned in Africa (her story has a sad start too) and now lives at a wildlife park, where her Uncle Ivan happens to be a gorilla.