April 2014, Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 40 pages, Hardback, Review copy
Themes: travel, hunters, seeing new animals, Africa,
France
Summary from Frances Lincoln
This is the astonishing true story of Zeraffa, a giraffe who was sent as a gift from Egypt to France in 1826.
A young boy, Atir, takes care of Zeraffa on her epic journey and the sailors sing songs as she gazes down at them. In France, Atir leads her through the countryside, and thousands of people marvel at Zeraffa.
Paris falls in love with Zeraffa. The King builds her a special house in the Jardin des Plantes. On warm nights, the young princess visits, while Atir whispers stories to Zeraffa of a hot land far away.
Nayuleska's thoughts
An awesome author plus a talented
illustrator make an incredible read! The placid giraffe which takes up the
inner title page made me feel sorry for Zeraffa - she should have stayed home,
not been paraded about and endured so many crowds. I guess that's how it was in
the past, and at least she wasn't left to die without her mother. She seemed to
take the travelling in her stride, with Atir always beside her, making sure she
was looked after. Dianne, as usual, has created a captivating story, especially
noting the way Zeraffa became a fashion icon in Paris for every aspect of life
from hairstyles, goods and gardens.
I squee-d when I saw Jane was the
illustrator. The level of detail and contrasting textures which suit the
different scenes are beautiful to look at. I squee-d more when I spotted the
birds which are the same gorgeous coloured ones in another of her books in the
suggested read below. They were on most pages and were the first thing I looked
for. I could feel the flow of the river, and the stillness of a night at sea.
The balloon engineer's plans are elaborate. I loved the style of dresses at
Lyon and Paris. The myriad of colours and patterns on fabric gives the reader
so much to look at, especially these giraffe inspired ones.
The most touching part of the story happens
to be on my favourite illustration, when the king's granddaughter sneaks out
under moon light and feeds Zeraffa an apple. The girl has similar hair to mine,
her dainty shoes are simple yet elegant, I adore her plain dress and her
beaded/embroidered shawl which finished off her outfit. Both the girl and
Zeraffa have people pay attention to them, so it seems fitting that the two of
them make friends. The reason why this didn't get full marks is because on one
of the scenes which is shown on the front cover, has houses beneath the road.
Now, everywhere else the small scale buildings worked, but I think because the
people and animals are so large, somehow having small buildings closest to the
reader doesn't look right to me- I'd prefer them larger so it didn't look like
they were being trodden on. That is a minor issue compared to the magnificence
of the rest of the book.
Find out more on both Dianne's website and Jane's website.
Suggested read
Check out where my love of Jane's birds started,
the enchanting tale of Ahmed and the Feather Girl (Children's, Picture book, 9/10E)
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