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THE SHORT GIRAFFE by Neil Flory

THE SHORT GIRAFFE

by Neil Flory ; illustrated by Mark Cleary

Pub Date: March 1st, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8075-7346-4
Publisher: Whitman

A group of giraffes is known as a tower, but this tower of giraffes has a member who could live in a studio apartment, literally.

Geri is short. For a giraffe, that can pose complications, especially when a group photo is being staged. To get Geri’s mug in the group shot, his comrades try all manner of tricks. They try stilts, but there are balance issues. They try a stack of turtles, but there are balance issues, again. They try wings, but Geri makes like Icarus. They try helium, but you know what happens when the helium escapes. Springs look promising, but they are a little too springy. It comes down to a caterpillar—one of a collection of caterpillars, aka an army; perhaps he is AWOL from his unit, but at least he has a good idea: “Excuse me, giraffes, if I might say, instead of trying to get Geri UP to your height...wouldn’t it be easier if you bent DOWN to his?” (Must have been the British army.) Cleary has staged the book on tawny brown paper—there are a couple of pages of sky blue, a nice, snappy contrast to the brown—which has a vibrantly colorful effect on the giraffes, which here look like a tower of Popsicles. The text is simple, carrying this plot that depends on an ability to see multiple perspectives with elegance. A genteel riot of laughs. (Picture book. 2-5)