Geoffrey the gangly giraffe has trouble making friends due to his clumsiness. He slips, stumbles, and splashes his way through the African Savannah. He has to stoop to meet the meerkats, elephants, and other animals who are all much shorter than he is. “Oh dear, Geoffrey,” is repeated various times. He is fed up. Then, some young monkeys ask for help getting to the top of the tree where he also befriends a group of birds who have been following him all along. Geoffrey realizes that he can make friends by standing tall and being himself. The author uses onomatopoetic language and a hint of humor to narrate this story. Gouache and collage illustrations help bring Geoffrey’s adorable awkwardness to life. jjr |
| Title: Oh Dear, Geoffrey! Author: Gemma O’Neill Illustrator: Gemma O’Neill Publisher: Templar Copyright: 2013 Original language: English ISBN: 978-0-7636-6659-0 Hardcover pages: 32 Age range: 3-7 Genre: Picture Book Book setting: Africa Author’s residence: Ireland Subjects: African Savannah, Animals, Giraffes |
Oh Dear, Geoffrey!
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Geoffrey the gangly giraffe has trouble making friends due to his clumsiness. He slips, stumbles, and splashes his way through the African Savannah. He has to stoop to meet the meerkats, elephants, and other animals who are all much shorter than he is. “Oh dear, Geoffrey,” is repeated various times. He is fed up. Then, some young monkeys ask for help getting to the top of the tree where he also befriends a group of birds who have been following him all along. Geoffrey realizes that he can make friends by standing tall and being himself. The author uses onomatopoetic language and a hint of humor to narrate this story. Gouache and collage illustrations help bring Geoffrey’s adorable awkwardness to life. jjr
Paul the goldfish swims in circles every day until Bernadette literally drops into his fish bowl. She shows Paul a whole new world beyond the curved glass of his bowl. A banana-shaped boat. A blue teapot mother elephant. A green alarm clock cactus. And a milk carton, orange juice bottle Milwaukee skyline. As Paul examines the intriguing world outside, he becomes equally captured by his new companion. Vibrant oil paintings bring this story about love, friendship, and an active imagination to life. mjw
Lottie keeps her found treasures and secrets locked in a battered brown leather suitcase that was a gift from her grandfather. Sometimes she wishes there was someone with whom she could share her secrets. But the other children find Lottie odd and her suitcase ugly. Leon, the boy next door, sits alone every day in his back garden playing his tuba to Mozart, his cat. One day, the cat disappears and the music stops. These two different children become friends. Lovely drawings with old photos and collage support this delicate story of acceptance and understanding. mjw
Young Themba lives in poverty with his mother and younger sister in rural South Africa and dreams of becoming a famous soccer player. This is a rags to riches story about hope, triumph, and family love, but it is also an eye-opening story about the secretiveness and shame surrounding HIV/AIDS. The novel was made into an international movie which won the UNICEF Child Rights Award in 2010. mjw
In this cautionary ecological parable, best friends Hulda and Brimir, live on a beautiful, tranquil blue planet that is inhabited by children who never grow old. One day, a grown-up, Gleesome Goodday, “Dream Come True Maker and joy bringer,” crashes his spaceship on the beach. He sprinkles all the children with sun-activated fly powder, nails the sun in the sky so it can always be play time, and charges them a bit of their youth. When the children fly to the other side of the planet and see sickly, pale, dying children, they realize the Goodday is not all that he seems. mjw
In 1884, in Washington Territory just miles from the British Columbia border, 15-year-old George Gillies and his siblings discover a local white settler murdered. Suspicion falls on 14-year-old Louie Sam, a member of the Stó:lo tribe. George and his friend Pete secretly follow a lynch mob into Canada, where Louie Sam is seized and hanged. But, George and his father have doubts about Louie Sam’s guilt. Based on the only recorded lynching to occur on Canadian soil, this is a gripping story about racism, injustice, mob mentality, and discrimination. A final note provides historical facts. mjw
This semi-autobiographical wordless graphic novel illustrates the story of a young boy who emigrates with his family from an Asian land to New York City. Facial expressions, body language, and colors in the whimsical, abstract watercolor and digital art depict his transition and triumph in discovering his new place in a foreign landscape. An author’s note describes her journey at age four from Korea to Washington D.C. This universal tale would be useful with immigrant populations in any community. mjw