Children’s and Young Adult, Literary fiction
A story about the journey of a young gorilla male called Pong in captivity, who was first sold by hunters to an Arabian palace. However, he got lucky and from there travelled to a zoo, where he had to learn to live with other gorillas.
“When I wrote the first book about gorillas, Gorilí táta (Gorilla Dad), based on the memories of their keeper, Marek Ždánský, the story of the gorilla boy Pong attracted me the most. He reminded me of Mowgli, but the other way round. The thing is, Pong thought for a long time that he was human, and only later did he find out he was a gorilla. And I wanted to find out how he felt and how close human and animal souls are. The gorilla boy Pong had to accept the fact that he was a gorilla. But what if he never really stopped being human?” says Markéta Pilátová about her book. Pong’s story, as well as the stories in the book Gorilí táta (Gorilla Dad), is accompanied by illustrations by Daniel Michalík.