The White Giraffe :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

My daughter was entranced

2008-07-25
I think this is an excellent literary book. It misses its mark for the most part with kids though. While the idea of whites running a preserve in South Africa was not hard for me (and certainly not my daughter) because apartheid almost guaranteed that, I agree that the caution not to say anything to the grandmother was not explained and thus very confusing. But the word choices and the word pictures she painted were absolutely incredible. Excellent choice for a high school or college writing or literature class!!!

My daughter and I read this together so she picked up on the word pictures. She loved it, I think, for that reason. My boys were bored with it.

Beautiful but unsettling...

2008-04-21
I must agree with the reviewer who found the premise of this book disturbing. I think it's excellent that a white author engages a white heroine (and her western audience) with Africa. But the total effect here may not be worth the beauty and informative nature of this book.

I have no problem with a white girl going to live in Africa and being the center of an "African" narrative. But in the South African context, the notion that a foreign white person has a supernatural connection to nature is both absurd and tiresome (after centuries of Afrikaner farmers making the same argument to justify taking the land). The idea that the heroine has "control over all the animals" is also outdated at a time when our sense of domain over nature has done devastating damage to our environment.

Speaking of tired ideas, meet the major black characters in the novel. There is Tendai, the wise, noble, avuncular black "helper" on the heroine's quest. (I'm sure he'll be played by Morgan Freeman in the movie version.) We also meet Grace, who I'm sorry to say is very much an Aunt Jemima character. She is jovial, overweight, headscarfed and motherly, and she says things like "Look at you, chile, you just skin'n'bone." These characters are given a bit of depth, but like many things in the book it's not enough and feels unplanned.

I wouldn't discourage any child from reading this highly satisfying story. But any reading of it should be guided with a discussion of stereotypes and questions about our relationship to nature. Kids are smart; I wish the plot and characterization here had been just a bit smarter.

Giraffe lovers, read this one!

2008-01-21
When I asked a fifth grader for a book recommendation, The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John was suggested. This book has made the list of possibilities for the KBA (Kentucky Bluegrass Award) list and after reading it, I can understand why it is receiving great ratings from the selection group. Without opening the book, I was already intrigued by the beautifully illustrated cover.

Martine, at the young age of 11, loses her parents in a house fire in England. She must go to the only guardian; her grandmother who owns an animal sanctuary in Africa. One of Martine's discoveries upon her arrival is a white giraffe. The adventures that this young girl has in pursuit of the giraffe and the friendship between the animal and the human make this book difficult to stop reading.

The character development is strong, such as Aunt Grace, who immediately grabs the reader as an interesting person who exhibits true African roots. Martine, who may not be a typical child of her age, also has to show strength and understanding as she deals with her grandmother. As the author introduces various characters, readers are touched by relationships and changes that Martine must endure.

This novel would strengthen children dealing with death and dying and the changes one may have to experience. Although the white giraffe seems surreal for the reader, the vicarious African experience seems genuine. Boys and girls alike would enjoy this book and it is highly recommended. Although there are hints of problems in Africa, the representation of that place in the world allows the reader to want to visit and find a giraffe to love.

Great!

2007-10-15
It's true that it is hard to resist the cover. All the rest of the wonderful black and white illustrations by David Dean are also delightful, but the book also is paced well, has fun characters, and the appeal of animals and foreign places. The best part for me is that the setting rings true; it sounds like the author knows what she's talking about and loves sharing it with her audience. She does mention some of the social issues in South Africa, but since that is not the intent of the book, she doesn't dwell on them. The book isn't aimed at young adults; it's a children's book so the plot is fairly simple but nonetheless enjoyable for all ages. I'm looking forward to future journeys with St. John's colorful settings, whimsical fantasy, and endearing animals.

A good read

2007-09-17
My girls, ages 11 and 8, were totally caught up by this story. It contains fantasy, mystery, tragedy, suspense, and a glimpse of South Africa. My 11-year old is a very picky reader and expected to find this book boring, but, to her surprise and mine, thoroughly enjoyed it from the get-go.

A great first novel

2007-06-23
A thrilling adventure classic-inthe- making!

The night Martine Allen turns eleven years old is the night her life changes completely. Martine’s parents are killed in a fire, so she must leave her home to live on an African wildlife reserve with a grandmother she never even knew she had. When Martine arrives, she hears tales of a mythical animal living there—a white giraffe. They say no one has ever seen the animal, but it does leave behind footprints. Her grandmother insists that the white giraffe is just a legend, but then, one stormy night, Martine looks out her bedroom window straight into the eyes of the tall silvery animal. Could it be just Martine’s imagination, or is the white giraffe real? And if so, why is everyone keeping its existence a secret?

Nice cover, though 2007-06-07
I was at an ALA Conference skimming through the convention center when I stumbled across the Dial booth. I was a little too late to get the hottest galleys that day, but a person can still root out a hidden gem here and there if they've a yen to. I think it may have been the cover of "The White Giraffe" that caught my eye first. Deep blues with a pale ghostly giraffe obviously reflecting the moonlight off its hide. I'm not usually drawn to animal stories but there was something deeply compelling about the image I saw here. "Is this any good?," I asked the clearly exhausted Dial employee. To the best of her ability she assured me that it was a worthwhile read, so I took it home. So here's where it becomes awkward. It may well be that in the future this is a much beloved title that no one disputes as distilled genius in a glass. Maybe. But as far as I could tell, author Lauren St. Johnhasn 't quite yet gotten a feel for how to write for a young audience. There are things in this book that work, but by and large they're outweighed by the sheer mass of the things that do not. A good start, but a book that could have stood a little more editing

When eleven-year-old Martine's parents die in an accidental fire, she finds herself bundled away from England and sent to live with her grandmother in Africa. And that might have been fine except for the fact that it's obvious right from the start that Martine is not wanted by this unfamiliar relative. Lonely in a strange new land, one night the girl spots a white giraffe in the moonlight. And unaware of a legend that speaks of a girl who will someday ride such an animal, Martine begins to fall in love with her new home. Yet poachers are invading Martine 's grandmother's land and Jemmy, the beautiful white giraffe, is almost certainly in danger. It will take all the girl's strength and resilience to discover who the traitor on the reserve is and, when the time comes, realize how to rescue Jemmy.

Now it's clear that St. John's a writer through and through. Listen to this line: "Pale spiky thorn trees and ragged shrubs dotted the long yellow grass, which glowed beneath the blazing summer sun as if it was lit from underneath." THAT is how you write a sentence. THAT is how it is done. Food too is described deliciously as "omlettes made from fresh farm eggs and wild mushrooms, a heap of crispy bacon, and tomatoes fried with brown sugar." A human being could subsist on these words alone if you let them. So imagine my distress when on the next page the resident magical black friend puts her hand on our heroine's forehead and says, "You have the gift,chile . . . Jus' like the forefathers said." Even if you take away the whole white-girl-is-going-to-save-us-all idea, surely there was a better way to introduce that idea.

All right. So maybe some of my objection to this title is rooted in its basic premise. White girl goes to Africa and connects with a magical creature there better than any actual African could because she is "the one". So how much does Martine's race really matter? I read the first chapter or so of "The White Giraffe" after reading the bookflap , secure in the belief that my heroine was black. When it turned out that she was not, the entire reading experience took a shift to the left. I had been enjoying the book, you know. As first chapters go, I may have to nominate "The White Giraffe" for Most Gripping Opening of 2007. It's thrilling in the best sense of the word. So do we blame a book for putting a European lady in an African setting? Not a bit of it. But when it's clear that there are legends built around Martine, that's when things start to get uncomfortable. I mean, just for argument's sake, would it have been so bad if Martine had been black? It's not like we're swimming in black heroines in children's books these days anyway (and certainly not in fantasy).

There were other issues, I suppose. Martine is eleven but in terms of basic ideas like racism she resembles a six or seven-year-old more. That means that you get passages where apartheid gets a brief glossed over mention without much meat or heft to it. There are small plot gaps as well. Martine doesn't tell her grandmother about her gamekeeper's unnatural violence because Tendai "didn't want to distress her unnecessarily." It's a literary device that's as unnecessary as it is frustrating. Like those movies where the characters won't call the cops, even when the homicidal maniac is threatening them with a machete. Heck, when Martine's grandmother, a woman who (we later find) would protect her granddaughter with her life, allows Martine to go BACK into the super scary ship full of bad guys with guns there is just no good reason for it. No sane guardian would let their kid do that. And there are other moments of sheer coincidence. Grace, a holy woman, spontaneously appears in Martine 's secret alcove at just the right moment. You know Ms. St. John must have felt some slight awkwardness with moments like this. After all the book even says, "Martine was still reeling from the bombshell of finding the woman she'd wanted to see, here, in this sacred space." You me both, hon.

But did I mention that the writing was sometimes great? That a giraffe's eyes are described as the wisest and "most innocent" in the world? And I liked Martine 's dreams and the subplot that involves some mean kids in her school. It's the details and the idea of a white gal being the savior of Africa that gives me the willies. I look forward to what St. John puts out in the future. A memorable read, but it could definitely have been stronger.