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Summary
Summary
Imagine a giraffe that can sail from Alexandria, Egypt, to Marseille, France, in a boat with a special hole for her neck. Imagine a giraffe that can walk from Marseille to Paris in forty-one days, wearing stylish boots and a cape. Imagine a giraffe that captures the attention of a hundred thousand spectators in Paris as she parades through the city, inspiring paintings, poetry, porcelain designs, and even an exotic hairstyle. Imagine Belle, a gift from the pasha of Egypt to the king of France in 1827, a giraffe who made history. This book presents Belle's true story, told in the imagined words of her devoted Sudanese caretaker, Atir, who accompanied her on her journey to Paris and stayed with her till her death eighteen years later. Illustrated with artifacts and paintings from the nineteenth century and with Jon Cannell's jaunty artwork, Belle's remarkable story both captivates and informs. An author's note and pronunciation guide are included.
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-In 1827, when the pasha of Egypt sends a gift giraffe to the king of France, the tall, silent animal stirs up considerable excitement all across the country. Borrowing from French sources of the time for information and visual material, this fictionalized retelling follows the journey of Belle by sea and land from Africa to Paris. The trip is narrated by Atir, Belle's Egyptian caretaker, who stayed on in Paris for the exotic newcomer's 18 years of life there. Homely naive drawings interspersed with historical sketches and paintings are scattered across the pages. Mostly a straightforward, sketchy account, this book highlights well-chosen comic aspects of the social and animal history. However, the book isn't very appealing visually. The fully dressed giraffe on the cover will create some interest, but inside it's a slow starter and takes some careful attention to get into what's happening. Sources are cited both at the front and back of the book, and there's a pronunciation guide for some of the French phrases, only some of which are defined in the text. The narrative and the ideas will be most meaningful to a slightly older audience than will be drawn to the book, but it would be worth introducing to animal fans.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Holmes and Cannell, the team behind My Travels with Clara, again turn to the exhibit of exotic animals in centuries past in a delightful outing with Harris (Pop-Up Aesop). Narrator Atir describes the gift of the giraffe Belle by the pasha of Egypt to Charles X of France in 1827 and details Belle's long journey to the French capital (also explored in Zarafa: The Giraffe Who Walked to the King). Each piece of information is a treat, from the hole cut in the deck of the ship to accommodate Belle's neck to the raincoat and boots made for her walk to Paris ("Yes, boots. She was not used to walking such long distances,") and the giraffe mania that greeted her arrival ("There were giraffe songs, poems... fabrics, cough-drop boxes... and gingerbread cookies"). Loopy handwritten script is used for emphasis ("Fancy Parties!" "Paris loves Belle!"), while old maps, photographs, and portraits supplement Cannell's watercolor-and-ink drawings. Perceptive readers may conclude that celebrity and human nature haven't changed much in nearly 200 years. This is history for children as it ought to be written. Ages 6-9. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
This fictionalized story is told from the perspective of real-life Sudanese attendant Atir, who accompanied elegant giraffe Belle from Egypt to the court of French King Charles X in the 1820s. Offbeat illustrations in watercolor and ink incorporate French motifs and photos of artifacts from the early nineteenth century. Bib., glos. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
From the scorching Egyptian desert to bustling Paris, this historically inspired account describes the remarkable trip of a young guide who brings an unusual gift to the French king. Through the fictional voice of Sudanese escort Amir, this narrative chronicles the dramatic journey of giraffe Belle, a present from the Egyptian pasha to Parisian royalty, down the Nile River, across the Mediterranean and through France to her permanent residence in Paris's Jardin des Plantes. The exhausting trip succeeded through innovative planning as Belle, wearing boots and a waterproof jacket, walked eight weeks from Marseille to her destination. Thousands of curious admirers flocked to view the exotic animal. Cannell's mixed-media illustrations match the enthusiastic text in whimsy, thin lines complementing striking cursive phrases prominently displayed against clean backdrops. With a brief pronunciation guide and listed sources, this joins Zarafa: the Giraffe Who Walked to the King (2009), by Judith St. George and illustrated by Britt Spencer, on the shelf. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Belle is the gift of the pasha of Egypt to the king of France. She is elegant, tall, and a spectacle for the people of France, who have never seen a giraffe before. Her journey is narrated by Atir, her doting escort-umbrella carrier, and begins on the Nile River in 1826. The book showcases how unique Belle was: boats were not made for her (the captain cut a hole in the deck so she could sail comfortably); the weather was not right for her (a specially made cape kept her warm); and she drew crowds as large as 30,000 as she made her 40-day walkto Paris. The art is decidedly Parisian, with charming, muted watercolors (reds are more rust and blues more periwinkle). This story strikes all the right notes for nighttime reading, with the final pages showing Atir putting Belle to bed. Kids taken with this book will also enjoy The Giraffe That Walked to Paris (1992) or Zarafa: The Giraffe That Walked to the King (2009).--Jones, Courtney Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
LOOKING at different picture books can feel like taking different kinds of walks in the wood. As you turn the pages the pictures influence the pace at which you read and the attention you give to the images. Some books may feel like being in a forest with tree branches beckoning forward, encouraging you to move at a steady pace down the path. (William Steig is the master of this kind of book, his drawings, easy-going and efficient, so inextricably linked to his words that they lead effortlessly to the conclusion.) Another kind of book may feel more like a great allée of oaks where you are inclined to stop and admire the whorls and indentations of particular trees. In yet another, the experience is more akin to walking through an arboretum, where every turn brings you face to face with an exciting new specimen of bush or flower. Each of the books considered here is about an animal on a journey, but they are illustrated in strongly contrasting styles, and in their approaches they exemplify my three kinds of "walks in the wood." "Herbert," written and illustrated by Robyn Belton, is the true story of a little dog who falls off a boat in frigid New Zealand waters and who miraculously survives for more than 30 hours until he is rescued. Belton wisely uses sketchy yet realistic drawings to move us through the story to reach its dramatic and heartwarming conclusion. The effect of the art is filmic, in that one image points forward to the next, and also emotional. For all the art's looseness, it manages to capture tender details. A drawing of the boy in the story, for example, subtly suggests his anxiety as he watches his father's boat leave the pier with Herbert, his dog, on board. In "Sally's Great Balloon Adventure," Sally can't believe her eyes, and Belle attends a party in "A Giraffe Goes to Paris." Later in the story, an image of the little dog struggling through the huge waves of a storm, described with a few lines and the black dot of a nose emerging from big watercolor washes, conveys his desperate plight. This is a true adventure yarn that is well matched to its straight-ahead illustrations. "I knew you were alive!," from "Herbert." "Sally's Great Balloon Adventure," written and illustrated by Stephen Huneck, has pictures that are as solid and rooted to the page as the wooden blocks from which the artist printed the images. The powerfully simplified and colorful woodcuts tell the story of Sally, the black Lab, following her nose to a picnic lunch sitting in the basket of a hot-air balloon. Whoops! The balloon takes off, and after an anxious ride observed by people on the ground, Sally is saved by responding to shouts of "Tug of war, tug of war!" - she gives a rope a hard pull and, happily, her prompt action gets the balloon back on the ground. The simple story seems almost an excuse for Huneck, who died this year at 61, to give his fans more charming pictures to pore over one by one. The Labrador whose noble profile you have loved in earlier picture books, like Huneck's first, "Sally Goes to the Beach," is now starring in a gripping balloon adventure. She survives the ride, and as tempting as the smell of the chicken is - good dog - she never touches that picnic basket! "A Giraffe Goes to Paris," by Mary Tavener Holmes and John Harris, illustrated by Jon Cannell, is the true story of the exotic present of a giraffe, given by the pasha of Egypt to Charles X of France in 1827. The book brings to life the many complications of getting the animal from Egypt to Paris. The giraffe's escorts take along cows to provide the giraffe with milk, and two antelopes as well, as companions. Then comes a big problem on board the ship to France: "Belle wasn't going to fit!" It's too dangerous for her on deck, but she won't fit below. The Italian captain comes up with an idea: "He cut a hole in the deck, so Belle's long, graceful neck could poke out." (He also gives her an umbrella, to protect her from sun and rain.) The story takes us on the triumphant tour through France to Paris, with many astounded citizens along the way. With so much historical detail to work with, Cannell matches its complexity with a mélange of stylishly naive drawings, reproductions of 19th-century paintings and maps, and photographs of objects and sculpture. The effect is graphically hip with a lot of information to stop and consider, a veritable arboretum of images, but at some cost to the story's continuity. To give the events a connecting thread, the authors have invented a character, Atir, who looks after Belle and tells the story, but Atir's voice gets a bit lost in the cacophony of the jazzy graphics. This is very much a visual book, however, and a patient, historically minded young reader should find it a satisfying adventure. Jim McMullan's most recent book with his wife, Kate, is "I'm Bad!" Their book "I'm Big!" will be published this fall.