The King's Giraffe

A whimsical historical tale follows the adventures of Abdul, a stable boy to the ruler of Egypt, who in 1826 accompanied a giraffe, a gift to King Charles, to France, where the pair were delightedly received.

Grade 1-4?This account is a longer, even more fictionalized version than the one found in Nancy Milton's The Giraffe That Walked to Paris (Crown, 1992). With its focus on Abdul, the Egyptian stable boy who accompanied the animal to France, the Colliers' story is also more personal and immediate. In their description of events, the pasha and the King of France are posed as friends exchanging gifts of mutual affection rather than as warring rulers trying for rapprochement. King Charles is portrayed as a lovable duffer who likes to spend time with his grandson. He is so awed by the sight of the giraffe that he flubs his speech of welcome, which must then be finished by the boy. The result of such touches is a sanitized and often too-cute text, but it does give a sense of the excitement and possessive pride that the giraffe engendered in the French people. The oil paintings have a palette and quality of light that, without being a pastiche, are reminiscent of Rococo painters such as Watteau. Poulin offers some interesting views. For example, the title-page illustration shows the giraffe looking more akin to a tree trunk than an animal as he peers out of a copse at a bucolic scene of gamboling sheep, and the picture of the docking in France shows the wharf as seen from the level of the giraffe's head. A pleasant story about a historical event that conveys the lasting sensation caused by the animal's arrival.?Karen James, Louisville Free Public Library,
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1826, searching for a suitable gift for the king of France, Egypt's pasha happily seizes on the suggestion of a stable boy, Abdul, that he send his giraffe. With Abdul as his affectionate keeper, the creature creates a national sensation as he makes his way from Marseilles to the king's chateau at Saint-Cloud: Towns rename streets, dressmakers and milliners create new fashions, poets write ``long, thin poems,'' and admiring crowds gather along the route. The awestruck king delights Abdul by inviting him to stay on as keeper of the whole Royal Menagerie. In rich colors, softened edges, and subdued light reminiscent of Uri Shulevitz's The Treasure (1979), Poulin's oil paintings- -ranging from half-pages to wordless full spreads--show an interpretation of this historic event that is suffused with tongue- in-cheek charm; the calm, dignified giraffe towers with an indulgent air over excited, gnomish human figures, and the artist suggests an appropriate imaginary monument in the final scene: a giraffe's head built atop the Eiffel Tower. Nancy Milton's The Giraffe That Walked To Paris (1992) commemorates the same incident; while she, too, employs invented dialogue, the Colliers's first collaboration is a somewhat longer, more elaborately illustrated account. (Picture book. 8-10) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 6^-8. The year is 1826. When the king of France sends his friend the pasha of Egypt a printing press, the pasha responds by sending the French king "the most wondrous animal on earth," a beautiful giraffe. Abdul the stable boy accompanies his long-necked friend on the voyage and the stately walk through France, where they are greeted with honor and enthusiasm. The oil paintings, as formal as the prose, illustrate the story in a soft-edged realistic style graced with touches of humor. Considerably longer than the text for most picture books, this tale unfolds at a leisurely pace, and, given the complete lack of conflict, it's more than some children will sit still for; however, larger libraries may want to have the book on hand for its unusual story and its introduction to nineteenth-century France. Carolyn Phelan