The Short Sighted Giraffe

 

The Short-Sighted Giraffe by A.H. Benjamin and Gill McLean

I had to get glasses when I was in fifth grade.  I had no clue that my vision wasn’t quite up to standard and was so surprised when I heard the news.  Surprised and excited!  I though it was going to be wonderful to wear glasses and I did love wearing them at first.  However, many children aren’t quite so excited at the prospect of wearing glasses.  Maybe they are worried about stereotyping and being teased, maybe they don’t want to keep track of them, or maybe they just don’t like them.  Whatever the reason it can be a tad difficult sometimes to convince a child that needs them to wear them.

Giraffe is someone who can help.  She couldn’t see very well, but she did NOT want to wear glasses.  The other animals kept offering them to her, but she just wouldn’t try them.  Her eyesight was so poor that she would accidentally bump into trees.  Instead of wearing glasses, she decided to just wear a helmet everywhere.  But then she started running into other animals, and instead of wearing glasses she decided to wear a bell on her tail to warn everyone where she was.  So the pattern continued on and on until Giraffe wound-up looking quite silly with added boots, a pillow under her bum, and a ladder as well as a  floatation device around her neck.   It is all so ridiculous that one night things take a turn for the better.  I won’t spoil what happens, but lets just say that better vision is in her future.

This is such a cute story.  The concept and text are fun and the illustrations are some that are playful and appealing to children.  All of the animals have such fun expressions and you really start to feel for poor giraffe.  It is one that can have your children pleading with giraffe to “Just wear the glasses!”

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