Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20976 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Joe Melia, Waterstone's Bristol Galleries, WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY
'St John's descriptions of southern Africa provide a sumptuous backdrop.... top-drawer adventure storytelling, with an added helping of fantasy thrown in. It all makes for a genuinely gripping tale that will warm even the coldest of hearts.'

Review
'St John's descriptions of southern Africa provide a sumptuous backdrop.... top-drawer adventure storytelling, with an added helping of fantasy thrown in. It all makes for a genuinely gripping tale that will warm even the coldest of hearts.' (Joe Melia, Waterstone's Bristol Galleries WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY )

'enthralling... we may not all have a white giraffe to make life easier, but his book remainds us that even the most miserable situation can get better.' (John Millen SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST )

NEWSADEMIC.COM
'Lauren St John knows exactly what a game reserve is like and makes us feel, hear - and almost touch and taste - the magic and mystery of Africa. The White Giraffe is her first children's book. Let's hope it won't be her last. This story is a page-turner - highly recommended.'

Customer Reviews

To be read, from 9-10 yrs old
Between myth, dream and beliefs of sorcery, the white giraffe wants to be a completely enthralling history. It follows the traces of a solitary girl, and finally hardly ordinary, who discovers an unknown and unexpected world. To read, it is quite simply captivating! The African atmosphere is well returned, the author passed her childhood to Zimbabwe, in edge of an animalist reserve. Its subject is thus not embroidered with the light one.

It is appreciable also to share the conflicts of Juliette, at the school, with her grandmother and in the reserve, against the poachers. It is at the same time poignant and light, well in the current spirit I find. This book announces a trilogy to follow! With pleasure.

Heartwarming - Magical - A lovely story.
What a wonderful story. For ages approx. 8+ but I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult too!

This is the story of Martine. She's 11 years old when her parents are killed and she's sent to live in Africa with her only living relative, her grandmother. Her grandmother doesn't seem to be all that pleased to see her, but Martine soon finds the delights of living at Sawubona, a game reserve, compensate for her grandmother's strangeness. All the same, Martine wonders what makes her grandmother act so strangely... what is she hiding from Martine? Martine not only has the difficulty of being without her parents in a foreign country, but the challenge of starting at a new school too. Can she befriend the quiet boy, Ben, who sits all alone at break time and doesn't ever speak? Back in the wilderness, is there such a creature as the 'white giraffe' or is it just a mythical African story?

This is a lovely, magical story, full of the warmth, mysticism and ruggedness of rural Africa. Really well-written, and with simple yet effective black and white illustrations to help bring the pages alive. I can highly recommend it.

Excellent Story
With its colorful vocabulary The White Giraffe is an excellent book for my 9 year old. It is challenging but at the same time the story is so interesting that we maintain the comprehension even with the vocabulary challenges! I am totally enthralled by it.