Bookmark Monday: The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

Oh crumbs…I’ve started a little thingy I can’t quite stop now.  😛

And the worst of it is, I started it at bedtime last night when I pulled out Roald Dahl’s The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

For one, it was obviously a very quick silent read when I reviewed it silently before putting it on the kids’ bookshelf. But I sure set myself up for some serious vocal exercise when I chose to do it as a read-aloud bedtime story.

As a child, when I read Roald Dahl, I used to totally ham it up when reading his signature silly rhymes. 😛

So in the book, there’s this catchy little song titled “We are the Window Cleaners!”.

I made up a little tune to go with it, and I think now I’m going to have to sing this more often than I anticipated, because each time we get to the line “The Giraffe and the Pelly and me!”, DS bursts into uproarious laughter and asks for me to do it again.  He laughed so hard he couldn’t drink his milk properly, and had me really worried it would spill all over the sofa. (Thank God it didn’t, but it took him and his sister FOREVER to finish because they’d stop and then start giggling all over again. Gah.)

A really funny and heartwarming read, with magic and wit and wackiness thrown in, I also found the text suitable for young minds (meaning I don’t have to censor any grisly deaths or violent actions). [Note to parents: I still censor out some of the Duke’s exclamations where I feel I’m not ready to explain the euphemisms used. That, and it’s not all that fruitful during a read-aloud at this present stage.  But the censorship is fairly minimal.]

This is such a classic that I don’t think you’ll need a synopsis. There are plenty of reviews on Amazon to cover that.

But what I will tell you is how the book had me for keeps at the ending verse –

“We have tears in our eyes
As we wave our goodbyes,
We so loved being with you, we three.
So do please now and then
Come and see us again,
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.

All you do is to look
At a page in this book
Because that’s where we always will be
No book ever ends
When it’s full of your friends
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.”