The Giraffe and The Pelly and Me - Story Snug
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The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake

We read The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me in one sitting, the pace, the humour and the originality of the story kept us turning the pages until the end. A cast of colourful characters, a burglar and an amazing sweetshop feature in this amusing adventure.

The Story: Billy, a young boy, notices that an old shop is being renovated, its new sign advertises The Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company. As The Giraffe, the Pelican (Pelly) and the Monkey introduce themselves to Billy, the Duke of Hampshire’s chauffeur hires them to clean the windows of Hampshire Hall. After introducing themselves to the Duke the animals start cleaning but then they discover that somebody is up to no good…

This is such a madcap story that we really don’t want to spoil the ending for you. Suffice it to say that The Giraffe and the Pelly and The Monkey are handsomely rewarded for their part in the adventure as is Billy whose dream comes true at the end of the story.

The Giraffe, the Pelican and the Monkey make a great window cleaning team! The Giraffe is the ladder, the Pelican carries the water in his beak and the Monkey climbs up the Giraffe’s neck to do the cleaning. The Giraffe’s neck and the Pelican’s beak have original and distinctive features that enable them to work effectively and no window is too high up for them to reach. The Duke is extremely impressed by their work, his windows haven’t been clean for forty years!

Roald Dahl has taken a familiar situation and added humorous twists and wonderful language to this story. We love the sound of the tinkle-tinkle trees that Giraffe likes to eat and there are some amazing sounding sweets – Pishlets, Spitsizzlers, Plushnuggets, Stickjaws and Giant Wangdoodles to name but a few – even Willy Wonka gets a mention in the book! Short songs and rhymes intersperse the text as the animals explain their trade and we couldn’t help joining in with the Duchess’ diamonds song. Quentin Blake’s trademark illustrations add to the humour, we particularly like the illustration where everybody is singing with the Duchess and the picture of the children who have eaten Fizzcocklers made my daughter laugh.

Now my daughter is asking for another Roald Dahl story. Which one should we read next?

Age Range: 5 +

Author: Roald Dahl / Illustratรถr: Quentin Blake

 


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18 responses to “The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake”


  1. Kate (Along Came Poppy) avatar

    Bought a copy on holiday based on your review so thank you ๐Ÿ™‚ Hopefully will read it with my biggest girl this week ๐Ÿ™‚


    1. Catherine avatar

      I hope you both enjoy it ๐Ÿ™‚


  2. Tracey Bowden avatar

    Ooh I’ve not read this one will have to introduce it to my daughter see what she thinks #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      I hope that you both enjoy it ๐Ÿ™‚


  3. Erica Price avatar

    My son loves this one – he recently picked it out as a school reading book even though he’d already read it.


    1. Catherine avatar

      This is definitely one that we’ll be reading again ๐Ÿ™‚


  4. Acorn Books avatar

    I love Roald Dahl but this is one that I don’t think I’ve read. It sounds just as brilliant as his others though.

    How about George’s Marvellous Medicine next or Matilda?
    #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      Thanks for the suggestions, we’ve read both of those. I may look out for The Magic Finger next, we’ve bought most of our Roald Dahl books in charity shops!


  5. BookBairn avatar

    One of my favourite Roald Dahl books! I love it! #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      It’s hard to just have one favourite Roald Dahl book isn’t it?!


  6. Yet Another Blogging Mummy!!! avatar

    Now this is a Roald Dahl that I haven’t come across, although we have a fair few. Sounds good #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      I’ve never counted how many Roald Dahl books there are, it would be interesting to know ๐Ÿ™‚


  7. Chantelle Hazelden avatar

    Oh I love all Roald Dahl, Matilda is still my favourite. My girls favour James and the Giant Peach. Thanks for sharing with #ReadWIthMe


    1. Catherine avatar

      We’ve started reading James and the Giant Peach but didn’t really get into it. It’s the only one that we haven’t been able to persevere with so far. I love Matilda too ๐Ÿ™‚


  8. Kate avatar

    This sounds like a perfect addition to my little girl’s birthday wish list, she’ll be 5 this year. My favourite Roald Dahl book as a young child was “The Twits”. I was a bit scared of The BFG and Matilda! #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      This isn’t scary at all, a great introduction to Roald Dahl. We’ve just read The Twits and thought that was funny. I don’t think I’ve read THE BFG. Matilda is still my favourite ๐Ÿ™‚


  9. The Reading Residence avatar

    Yes! We enjoyed this one, too. My favourite is The BFG, though there are so many fab choices, aren’t there?


    1. Catherine avatar

      It was hard to write about this one without giving away too much of the story! We haven’t read The BFG yet (although I think I may have read it as a child!).