Book Review: THE GIRAFFE AND THE PELLY AND ME

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is one of the shortest books by Roald Dahl, spanning a mere 79 pages (actually less because the story only starts on the seventh page and there are a great MANY illustrations by Quentin Blake, Roald Dahl’s long-term illustrator, far more than the usual Roald Dahl book).

However, despite its brevity, it still contains the essence of Roald Dahl’s children stories: a familiar scene is given an unusual turn (poor boy wins a ticket to tour the Chocolate Factory in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or orphan comes across witches on a holiday in The Witches), silly but funny rhymes (remember the Oompas Loompas from Charlie?) and bits of the stories that need suspense of belief (Oompas Loompas? Bubble gum that turns girls purple? An alarm clock as an ingredient in a spell?).

In The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, the starting premise of the story is that the narrator, Billy, lives near an old abandoned shop which used to be a grubber (an old name for a sweet shop; this fascination with sweets is another common theme in Roald Dahl’s stories). One day, he notices that the shop has been sold and is occupied again. The strangest renovations take place in front of him – old furniture is thrown out of the house and sent crashing to the ground (adults know that no one does renovations like that but the mental image of bathtubs and toilet bowls being flung out of second-floor windows and shattering on the ground would tickle juvenile humour, I suspect). The next time he goes back to the shop, he sees that the old entrance has been removed and the tallest door ever stands in its place.

The reason behind the tall door is soon apparent for amongst the new tenants, there is a giraffe called…Giraffe. The other tenants are a monkey called Monkey and a pelican called…you got it! – Pelican or sometimes Pelly for short.

Anyway, these are no ordinary animals. Firstly, they can talk. Not only that, they even have entrepreneurial sense and have started a business, a window-cleaning business. Their business model is just the sort of half-ingenious half-mad plot that a weird mind like Roald Dahl’s would dream up. Giraffe has an extendible neck (suspense of belief) that acts as a ladder. Monkey is the cleaner and Pelly’s beak (the top half is retractable like the sort of metal ruler that contractors use – suspense of belief, remember?) is the pail that holds the water.

And their very first customer is none other than the Duke of Hampshire, the richest man in the whole of England. To summarise the story without giving too many spoilers, the quartet (Giraffe, Pelly, Monkey and Billy), after being employed by the Duke, does him a good turn and everyone lives happily after.

Oh, and the rhymes that I mentioned earlier in the review? A sample of it is when Billy first meets Pelly and the latter breaks out into a song:

Oh, how I wish

For a big fat fish!

For I’m as hungry as ever could be!

A dish of fish is my only wish!

How far are we from the sea?

All in all, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is a fun read with the usual traits of a Roald Dahl story, despite it being so short. Many of Roald Dahl’s stories, even those for children, have some dark parts (boys being turned into rats in The Witches or spoilt children getting their comeuppance in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) which certain parents may not feel comfortable exposing their children to. However, this twisted humour is missing from The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, making it an eminently suitable read for younger children. This is a great book to introduce Roald Dahl’s works to younger children but for those who want a longer tale to sink their teeth into, they could check out Roald Dahl’s The Witches, Matilda and Charlie and Chocolate Factory.

Rating: 3/5

Recommended for children 7 and above

By TCC