Anthony Browne: King Kong

If you were looking for someone to adapt King Kong as a children's picture book — and why you'd be doing that this Christmas I can't imagine — Anthony Browne would be at the top of your shortlist. Not just because he's a highly regarded children's author/illustrator with a string of awards to his name, but because in the picture book world, he's the reigning Mr Primate.

Browne's breakthrough book was Gorilla, a visually rich story about a little girl whose father never pays her any attention. It's a moving, beautifully understated story, with most of the work done by Browne's ever-so-slightly surreal illustrations, which you can stare at for some minutes before noticing the buried gorilla images in the wallpaper, and the city skyline, and the fruit bowl, and, and...

Gorillas have been a recurring presence in Browne's work ever since, particularly in his popular Willy picture books, in which children are drawn as waif-like chimpanzees, and the adults are all powerfully built gorillas. For Browne to do a Kong for Kids is less of a movie cash-in and more of a natural progression than it would be for any other children's author.

But still a bit of a cash-in, I initially assumed, given that the book has been carefully brought out just in time to ride the Peter Jackson wave. Then I checked the copyright details and noticed that this is a re-release — the book was originally published in 1994 — and also, though the cover makes no mention of the fact, Browne is only the illustrator. The text was written by Richard Merian Cooper, the son of one of the writers of the original film's screenplay.

This gives the book an appealing link to history, but Cooper's writing is extremely bland; it's easy to see why his name was left off the jacket. The pictures are the reason to read this book, and fortunately, they're all the reason you need. Browne's style is realistic, almost photographic, but at the same time full of sly visual jokes. As with his other books, the effect is not so much humorous as unsettling, pulling you into a world where nothing is quite what it first seems.

Which is, of course, perfectly appropriate for this story. Browne does a brilliant job of presenting Kong first as a monster, then as a victim, and then as both together. The final image of the great ape lying dead is simply drawn, but the emotions it calls up are marvellously complex.

I can imagine children looking at it and getting their first real understanding that sometimes, stories can go horribly wrong, and a simple "kill the monster" ending can become something they've never really encountered before: a tragedy.


* David Larsen is an Auckland reviewer
* Corgi, $24.95