The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

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The Monkey, in both appearance and diet, bears a strong resemblance to Muggle-Wump, a monkey from two of Dahl's earlier books: The Enormous Crocodile and The Twits. The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is a 1985 children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. The plot follows a young boy named Billy who meets a giraffe, a pelican, and a monkey, who work as window cleaners. One can read this seemingly benign and controversy-free Dahl book published in the wake of massive social upheaval dedicated to dismantling the welfare state and reforming the country’s immigration policies—should one so desire—as a blistering critique of the entire social structure of post-WWII British history up to the election of Margaret Thatcher. Update this section! Told from the point of view of a young boy named Billy, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Metells the story of Billy's lifelong dream to own a candy store (which the British call a "sweet shop.") He almost constantly is reminded of this dream because of an abandoned building next to his home called the Grubber (an old term for a candy store).

Imagine that you could fit inside a pelican’s mouth and fly anywhere in the world. Where would you go to? Why? Billy's biggest wish is to turn a weird old wooden house into a wonderful sweet shop. But then he finds a giraffe, a pelly and a monkey living inside - they're the Ladderless Window Cleaners! Who needs ladders when you've got a giraffe? They become best friends and when they meet the richest man in all England, there's a chance Billy's scrumptious-galumptious dream just might come true . . .

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

Draw a plan of the inside of Hampshire House. How many different rooms might it have? What special rooms could be inside it? The fortunes of these animals whose ability to talk is never once questioned changed after revealing they are solid citizens by thwarting the attempted robbery of a Duke. Grateful for having his wife’s expensive jewelry collection protected from being stolen by a notorious burglar known as the Cobra, the Duke offers the animals a place to live on his estate in exchange for cleaning his windows and harvesting fruit from his orchards. To do this, they must close down their privately owned business and thus become wards of the estate. As in wards of the state. As in receiving government assistance while meeting a minimum requirement of applied labor.

If your classes enjoyed these Roald Dahl ‘The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me’ worksheets, the fun doesn’t have to stop here! Our in-house teachers have created a wide range of fantastic resources to make Roald Dahl’s books even more engaging for all the children you teach. Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Norwegian descent, who rose to prominence in the 1940's with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. Billy and the animals are one day asked by the Duke of Hampshire to clean the titular Hampshire house. They accept the Duke's request. As they clean one day, however, they catch a cat burglar trying to steal the Duke's wife’s jewels. Because of this, the Duke invites the animals to live on his estate so that they can be his personal helpers, meaning that they no longer their building. In turn, Billy turns their old building into a candy shop, fulfilling his lifelong dream. Update this section! His first children's book was The Gremlins, about mischievous little creatures that were part of RAF folklore. The book was commissioned by Walt Disney for a film that was never made, and published in 1943. Dahl went on to create some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. Although the story is narrated in first-person by Billy, the word 'me' in the title refers to the monkey, who concludes every verse of his signature song with the phrase 'the giraffe and the pelly and me'.

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The sign on the front of ‘The Grubber’ says ‘FOR SAIL’. ‘Sail’ and ‘Sale’ are examples of homophones. Can you think of any more? Make a ‘Wanted’ poster to encourage people to look out for ‘The Cobra, the cleverest and most dangerous cat-burglar in the world’.

Dahl masters yet another story here by finding new characters and new angles to approach. With another child protagonist (as attentive readers will see, many Dahl tales are narrated by children), the story progresses. The precocious narrator goes off to explore the world, alone. I noticed that there are rarely any parental figures found in Dahl's children's books, which was mentioned in a recent biography I read of the author. Billy is free to frolic and find his way, dashing off to an estate with three random animals, where they eventually clash with an armed robber. How interesting for a children's book to remove the 'adult flavour', at least parents, from the narrative and give complete control to a child seemingly the same age as the target audience. The story flows well and the characters work well together to forge a strong story and decent collection of morals and lessons that are threaded throughout. Kudos, Mr. Dahl for all you have given us. You departed the world much too soon, but left a literary footprint that no one else will ever fill. This Roald Dahl Reading Comprehension uses the life of the author to help children understand and analyse a piece of written text. It’s differentiated so children of all abilities can take part. He is a criminal and is known as being one of the most dangerous cat burglars. He attempts to steal the jewels at the Duke of Hampshire’s house, but is foiled by Billy and the members of The Ladder less Window-Cleaning Company. Update this section!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. The monkey describes walnuts as being ‘scrumptious-galumptious, so flavory-savory, so sweet to eat?’. Can you think of different words / phrases to describe different senses (e.g. taste / touch / smell / hearing / sight). One third of The Ladder less Window-Cleaning Company, he is also known as, the ‘Dancing Monkey.’ He complains about the taste of the food in London and complains of not being able to eat walnuts. The Cobra I’m think you may have got our Agency confused as there is no Darren or Cariller Cray working here! The giraffe, pelican and monkey set up a window cleaning company. Can you think of some other animals? What job might they be able to do? Could you write a story about this?