Review: a book I wish I had read myself when I was a small child and all too easily upset
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 28, 2014
This very special book for toddlers and young children has been beautifully created by author Anat Umansky and illustrator Alin Mag. This book tells the story of Geraldine the giraffe who lives in Kenya and is seemingly forever crying when things don’t go her way—for example, when her giraffe friend Jeffrey eats all the leaves on one tree, Geraldine begins to cry because Jeffrey didn’t leave any leaves for Geraldine to eat! There are other times, too, when Geraldine cries—on one occasion she loses a race to Doris the deer and this makes Geraldine most unhappy.However, Geraldine has a true friend who tries and tries to teach Geraldine an important lesson—to take life’s problems and make things look right again by using a little bit of humor and some creative thinking. And precisely who is Geraldine’s friend? Why it’s Croakette the toad who “is known for her great wisdom” and being able to amuse Geraldine by blowing herself up “like a balloon!” Geraldine sees Croakette in her puddles of tears when she is crying; and eventually Geraldine learns an important lesson about life and seeing things from a brighter perspective by listening to and learning from Croakette the toad.Of course there’s a bit more to the story than just this but I’ll stop here to avoid spoiling it all for you!I really like this book—it’s great for even a big kid like me! I also like how sometimes Anat Umansky uses rhyming in the story; this is one of my very favorite types of writing for young children! As for the moral of the story, while we all feel sad now and then it’s always helpful to see things from a brighter perspective just as Croakette the toad teaches Geraldine to see things from a more positive outlook. I also like how the vocabularies of toddlers and young children will be enhanced by this book and grownups will be able to bond with children as they read this book together. That’s excellent!Thank you, Anat Umansky and Alin Mag! This is a wonderful children’s book indeed!