Francine Patterson

In 1972 Dr. Francine Patterson began to explore the question of whether a gorilla could learn to communicate through sign language. The story of how Penny won Koko’s trust and gradually began to teach her words is told in her first book, Koko’s Story. This book continues the story of Koko, who, as of the time of this book’s writing in 1986, had learned about 500 words, using over 100 different ones every day. [By the time of Koko’s death in 2018, Dr. Patterson reported that Koko had an active vocabulary of more than 1,000 signs, and understood approximately 2,000 words of spoken English.]

In this book, written in 1985, Dr. Patterson tells us about Koko’s pet kitten whom she named “All Ball.” Dr. Patterson writes: “It is a story in which Koko the gorilla tells us about herself in a language that expresses love, anger, sorrow, and joy.”

It was Koko herself who asked for a cat for her birthday present, and finally got a kitten.

Adorable photographs chronicle the growing relationship between Koko and All Ball. At one point, Dr. Patterson signed to Koko “Tell me a story about Ball.” Koko signed back, “Koko love Ball.”

One morning, All Ball got hit by a car and died instantly. Dr. Patterson explained to Koko that she would never see Ball again. Koko signed "Bad, sad, bad" and "Frown, cry, frown, sad, trouble.”

“‘Ten minutes later,’ she wrote, ‘I heard Koko cry. It was her distress call - a loud, long series of high-pitched hoots.’”

Finally, three months later, they found another kitten. Koko would not let go of it. “‘Baby,’ she signed. Koko was happy. Her new kitten had come to stay.”

Evaluation: This heart-warming story should convince doubters that primates aren’t as different from us as many believe.… (mehr)

In 1972 Dr. Francine Patterson began to explore the question of whether a gorilla could learn to communicate through sign language. The story of how Penny won Koko’s trust and gradually began to teach her words is so heart-warming, and is richly illustrated with color photographs. Having so much success with Koko, she began to teach another gorilla, Michael, and the two gorillas became friends.

At the end of the book Dr. Patterson writes:

“There are only a few thousand lowland gorillas like Koko and Michael left in the world. We have just begun to understand how smart and gentle these animals really are, and we can learn much more. We must protect them so they do not become extinct.”

She will have no trouble getting readers of the books about Koko on board.… (mehr)

"This is the story of the wonderful Koko...the gorilla who has been taught to sign so she can "speak" with humans. She was give a tiny kitten and oh, how she loved it. This touching true , photographed story illustrates our similarities to these beautiful primates and what it means to love. I recommend it to all children, of all ages. It touches me every time I re-read. If only we could all treat each other like this..." I loved learning about Koko and his kitten growing up. This book is a simple read and introduction to animal language and feelings.… (mehr)