This one may be my favorite (except for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). The monkey's sweet songs, the pelican's love of fish, the giraffe's long neck, and their teamwork with Billy, their "business manager," are all terrific, humorous details. The Duke of Hampshire is blustery and a bit confused, but he's a fun, kind character (unlike some of Dahl's more despicable adults). And Billy's sweet shop at the end, with its "Scarlet Scorchdroppers" and "Glumptious Globgobblers," is quite reminiscent of the aforementioned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There's even a reference to Willy Wonka! With lots of surprises and fun rhyme in the little songs.

Brilliant yet again by Dahl. You can read all of his children's books at all ages. They are so much fun and original. And those illustrations by Quentin Blake fabulous!

4.2/5

I really liked this story! The friendships are great and the duke is a weird eccentric old guy, which I love! Eccentric old people are the best!
I also loved the closing poem:

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.

This one's pretty tame compared to other Dahl stories. Definitely meant for a younger audience. Nothing evil or creepy or bizarre. Just a sweet story about a giraffe, a pelican, and a monkey who start a window-washing business, and a little boy named Billy who wants to own a candy store. The pelican saves the day for one of their very wealthy customers by catching a thief in his beak. All are richly rewarded for their part in foiling the theft, and Billy gets to fulfill his dream of having a sweet shop, which he calls a "grubber."

Nobody reads bedtime stories this good other than Hugh Laurie. Ok, maybe also Stephen Fry.

So I vowed to go on a childhood literary journey which saw me reread all of the Harry Potter books in the summer and now I plan on reading Roald Dahl's work. I thought I would start off with a short story, which I've got to say, I don't really remember reading but alas, here I am at 23 reigniting my love for Dahl's whimsical imagination.

This is a lovely story about friendship found in the most surreal circumstances. A child called Billy with a fondness for sweets, wishes the old 'Grubber' shop would reopen - how many times have we heard the expression 'like a kid in a sweet shop'? Billy befriends a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey who run a ladderless window cleaning company (who are very hungry yet peculiarly good at their job), and in a twist of fate meet the Duke of Hampshire who makes their wishes come true.

A story about friendship, kindness and teamwork. No matter how old you are, you're sure to find a moral in every Roald Dahl story and this one is no exception. I look forward to reading more of Dahl's work in the coming weeks.

No book ever ends
When it's full of your friends
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.

A wonderful story, it reminded me of a movie which called "Pai" which i watched once.
it was the first experiance with Roald Dahl but definatly it won't be the last

i enjoyed it :)

During enforced stay-home time during the COVID-19 pandemic, I am enforcing "Daddy read-aloud time" with the hopes of expanding my children's literary repertoire. Why are they so resistant to even trying certain books? Anyway, I included this in the stack of titles they could choose from and it was the first that we read. It's quite short, easily read in one sitting, or two in this case for read-aloud time.

The kids enjoyed it a lot. I had read it previously to make sure it was appropriate. It is "in-world" for Roald Dahl with mention of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. There is a smattering of silly words that elicited some giggles, such as "tinkle-tinkle tree". There are a manageable number of characters to make voices for. There are several songs to make up a tune for. Usually when I try to sing I get yelled at by the kids (I still don't know why, it's not that I'm a bad singer, it just assaults their sense of propriety or they think I'm making fun of them or something. I mean, I get full-throated screams of "STOP IT!" and tears sometimes when I try) but in this context I got away with it.

Hopefully this will lead into longer chapter books during this bonding time.

One of Dahl's shorter, fluffier books. Still fun, and the 7 year old LOVED it.

they can't all be hits.

even if you're roald dahl and your mind is capable of coming up with things like "boy in magic chocolate factory gets to live there forever" and "girl who reads a lot is also magic because of that."

even at that level of content creation, you're going to come up with giraffes and pellys sometimes.

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago

I enjoy books that you can read in a day that are short and sweet this book is definitely that . I really enjoyed this books because Roald Dahl’s imagination and the ya he writes his characters are great they are so endearing and funny . Dahl comes up with these crazy things for his characters to do but does it in such a realistic way I always find myself believing or wishing it was possible . Another great book :)

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