When Elephant Met Giraffe by Paul Gude (review)

Three short stories depict the budding friendship between a lively elephant and a silent giraffe, beginning with their initial meeting in “The Water Hole,” in which Elephant can’t understand why Giraffe won’t verbally respond to her friendly overtures. Once Elephant realizes that Giraffe’s taciturnity is a species trait rather than a dismissal of her friendship-making efforts, the two bond. In “Pretzels,” Giraffe decides to whip up some pretzels; Elephant’s help turns the project into more of a culinary mess than a masterpiece, but the end result is tasty anyway. “The Bossy Pirate” finds Elephant so narrowly dictating the pair’s pretend play that Giraffe gives up and reads a book instead, until Elephant acquiesces that each friend can choose a pretend identity. There’s a slight Daniel Pinkwater-esque flavor to this matter-of-fact yet amusingly absurd narrative, and the brevity of Gude’s text makes this accessible to young audiences while the simplicity of the vocabulary and the large, clear font also put this within range of novice readers. Shy children will particularly appreciate that Giraffe’s quietness is presented as an acceptable facet of his personality rather than a problem to be fixed. Gude’s childlike digital illustrations, with the blocky, rounded figures of Giraffe and Elephant outlined in black and smoothly filled with solid color, are a congenial partner to the unadorned text. Humorous details, such as Elephant’s lavender and yellow, dinosaur-shaped swim ring and Giraffe’s white chef’s hat that adorably covers his ossicones, add to the fun. Pair these pals with Marshall’s George and Martha for a funny, friendship-themed story session.