The Gorilla Press Story

Join Gorilla--Change Your World
Our motto is "Join Gorilla — Change Your Jungle" because we believe that by joining The Gorilla Press, kids, parents, teachers, principals, and everyone else can transform not just one kid, but the whole community. By pairing adult creative mentors with at-risk teens, we create a permanent learning community capable of transforming both adults and kids.

The Gorilla Story
When I was eight, I asked my teacher why children's books were all written by grownups.

"Kids can't write books," Mrs. Hanson patiently explained. "Kids can't write well enough. Kids don't know how. Don't you know that books are very difficult to write? Besides, kids can't do all the design, editing, and publishing that goes into making a book."

Just to spite her, I made my own book, with a blue magic marker and four pieces of notebook paper stuck together. My masterpiece was called The Story of the Slinky. It fell apart after a few days, and nobody except my mom ever got to read it. But I was proud of myself for proving Mrs. Hanson wrong.

However, I still felt that something was missing. I wanted to make a REAL book, with a real cover, beautiful pictures, funny stories, and lots of chapters. I wanted everyone to read The Story of the Slinky!

Eventually, I grew up and became a writer and educator, and had a real press publish my books. But I wanted other kids to have the chance to write, publish, and read one another's books. So I created The Gorilla Press.