Zeraffa Giraffa

Gr 2–5—In 1824, the Pasha of Egypt and Sudan entrusted his servant boy Atir to transport a young giraffe to Paris as a gift for King Charles X of France. In brief, lyrical text infused with conversation, Hofmeyr describes their lengthy trip: down the Nile, across the Mediterranean, and—on foot— from Marseilles to Paris and the special rotunda in the Jardin des Plantes built by the delighted king to house his new treasure where all could come to see her. Gentle Zeraffa spends her evenings in the company of the king's granddaughter, who feeds her apples and combs her mane, and her devoted caretaker, Atir, who whispers stories of the land where she was born. Ray's watercolor folk art-style paintings are masterful in their texture and minute detail. An informational page recaps the historical facts. Judith St. George's Zarafa: The Giraffe Who Walked to the King (Philomel, 2009, o.p.) has short informative sentences and is geared toward younger children. Hofmeyr and Ray have captured a tiny slice of 19th-century history.—Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH