"No book never ends
When it's full of your friends"

I have a bit of a soft spot for The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me because I vividly remember reading it as a child. I had the large picture book version and I read it all the time.

It's a very simple story, about a boy and his best friends who just happen to be a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey who run a window cleaning business. There's also a small nod to Willy Wonka. It was a good time.

3,9 es un cuento corto muy tierno, con la magia de Dahl. Además tiene al final un guiño de Charlie y la fábrica de chocolates y ese libro si que me gustó.

2,5/5

Pravdepodobne moja najmenej obľúbená knižka spomedzi detských kníh od Dahla. Nebolo to také vtipné, zaujímavé ani zapamätateľné.
Dalo sa to prečítať, ale znova netreba.

জিরাফ, পেলিক্যান পাখি আর বানরের মই ছাড়া জানালা পরিষ্কার করার দল; নিজের একটা মিষ্টির দোকান দেয়ার স্বপ্ন দেখা ছেলে আর ৬৭৭ জানালাওয়ালা প্রাসাদের মালিক বিশাল ধনী ডিউক সব মিলিয়ে চমৎকার একটা কাহিনি। তবে গল্পটা জমে ওঠার আগেই খুব তাড়াতাড়ি শেষ হয়ে গেল। ব্লেকের ইলাস্ট্রেশন যথারীতি একটা দুর্দান্ত পাওনা।

*****5.0*****
Review soon

Sent to Andrea Messent at Darren and Associates:

Dear Darren & Associates,

It is with some regret that I sit down to write this correspondence. I understand your reluctance to read voluminous missives so I will keep this missive as unchunky as my e-pen allows.

On Sep 4th 2010 I sent to your agency, via recorded delivery, my novel When Bees Attack. I sent this following a verbal agreement between myself and your agent Cariller Cray when I met her at a catered affair for Bernard Share’s eightieth birthday. We had a thoroughly encouraging conversation about the passion for knowledge common to fellows in the academic arena—the “epistemology of the heart,” to quote my own phrase. At the climax of this discussion I mentioned in passing my sexually provocative novel When Bees Attack about a retired Oxford professor who opens a bee sanctuary on the Norfolk coast. Ms Cray was deeply impressed at the breadth of my apian knowledge and offered to read my manuscript with a view to representation by your agency.

I received no response for six months save for a Tower Bridge postcard sent by Cariller with “we cannot use” scribbled in (what appeared to be) child’s crayon. Upon a closer inspection with my nose, I did indeed ascertain this message to have been written in crayon. I sent a polite enquiry letter a week later, asking for a more formal response to my manuscript. The following week I received my returned manuscript, each page covered in crayon marks, with large blood-red scrawlings of ‘HA HA HA’ in the margins. I sent yet another polite enquiry. A week later I received a single page of foolscap with the same scrawlings—‘HA HA HA’—across the page. This is not professional conduct. I am a patient man and I do not appreciate being treated in such a bizarre manner.

All I seek is confirmation that my novel, When Bees Attack, has been read by your agency, and whether representation is possible on the strength of the material submitted.

Yours truly,

Terence Mason

*

Genuine Reply:

Dear Terence,

I’m think you may have got our Agency confused as there is no Darren or Cariller Cray working here!

Best wishes,

Andrea

Have you read this delightful story of the Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company? If you haven't, then better snap up this book; so for only a few precious minutes, you can pretend that everything in the world isn't as awful as it seems.

When Billy joins the Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company, he gets a lot more than a new job. First he makes three new friends, then it's time to get to work cleaning all 677 windows of the Duke of Hampshire's house. The Duke is not only the most wealthy man in the country, he's also the most generous. Can he make Billy's lifelong dream come true?

It's a real hoot of a book. You'll get to read about the Pelican's Patented Beak and the Giraffe's Magical Neck. My favorite parts (aside from descriptions of the contents of Billy's future grubber/sweet shop) was when the Duchess came running out of Hampshire House, all hysterical and she sang:

"'My diamonds are over the ocean,
My diamonds are over the sea,
My diamonds were pinched from my bedroom,
Oh, bring back my diamonds to me."

Then you as the reader couldn't help but sing the chorus:

"'Bring back, bring back,
Oh, bring back my diamonds to me, to me.
Bring back, bring back,
Oh, bring back my diamonds to me!"

Confession: I’m collecting all of Dahl's books in the hope of passing them on to my future kids & reading it to them during bedtime or even playtime. How’s that for motive? ;)


Book Details:

Title The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Author Roald Dahl
Reviewed By Purplycookie

#46 of 2020

This story begins with the introduction of a little boy that lives next to an old shut-down building that used to be a candy shop. Then one day he sees that the building has been cleaned up and now has a sign on it "Ladderless Window Cleaning Company". The cleaning company consists of a pelican, a monkey, and a giraffe. And the little boy is whisked away on a window cleaning adventure that in the end makes all his dreams come true.

This is a cute, short novel and one of my favourites from my own primary school years. Appropriate for very young children; I think even a 3 or 4 year old would be able to follow it and enjoy it. The pictures are black and white sketches and enduring in their own way.

Friendship is an amazing thing to share! The duke was a bit crazy, but the great kind of crazy :D
And the closing poem, or song earned the book its forth star!

"We have tears in our eyes
As we wave our good byes
We so love 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 never ends
When it's full of your friends
The giraffe and the pelly and me"

GENIAL. No hay nada como Roald Dahl.