A Giraffe and a Half

This book of poetry was a great read. I appreciated the flow of the words and as well as the humor. I also really liked how the rhymes slowly escalated, adding a new rhyme to the current paragraph, until the plot reverses and returns back to a single giraffe. The book starts out with a giraffe who continually has things added to him. In the middle of the story, where the plot reverses, it says, “But…if you brought him a pole to climb out of the hole and the whale left his tail and went off for the mail…” It finally ends with “You would have a giraffe.” The full circle keeps the children focused and engaged.

Silverstein uses silly language to help developing students get a grasp on rhyming. He uses everyday words that you show more wouldn’t imagine being connected. For example, he says, “If you glued a rose to the tip of his nose…you would have a giraffe and a half with a rat in his hat looking cute in a suit with a rose on his nose.” The humor incorporated throughout the book keeps children entertained and wanting to read more.

The main idea of this piece of writing is to develop students’ phonological awareness. Rhyming allows students to hear and manipulate words in order to understand sounds. Silverstein is able to accomplish this by making his rhymes fun and engaging. show less

A book that children will love to read and adults will love to read aloud to them (or just for them too!). It is funny and delightful. A must have if you are teaching about rhyming, poetry or repetition!

I loved Shek Silverstein as a kid. I bought two recently and my son had a blasted reading this book about a giraffe collecting various things and then getting back to a giraffe. Great book!

I just recently read Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros? So I thought that A Giraffe and a Half might be structured in a similar way, but my hypothesis was wrong. I really enjoyed this book, but the whole time I was reading I thought I was reading some alternate version of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr.Seuss. Now I even went to look up the publication dates on both books just to see which one came out first and Green Eggs and Ham was published August 12,1960. A Giraffe and a Half was published about four years later on January 1,1964. The way that A Giraffe and a Half is structured the same way Green Eggs and Ham is. We start Silverstein's book with a Giraffe and each page something else happens and the previous things that happened to him are show more repeated. Then, when you think nothing else can happen to this giraffe it goes backwards and the poems become shorter. I don't know if Silverstein was inspired by Seuss or if it was just a coincidence. show less

This is a favorite in our family! Written in an almost musical cadence, this book is so fun to read! My children absolutely adore it!

Summary:
A little boy with a very wild imagination. About what if. What if, you had a giraffe and crazy things happen to him.

Personal Reaction:
This is a very silly book. Not really much point or moral to it at all. Just for fun and laughter. Sometimes I think it is good to read a book for no other reason, but its funny and you need to laugh.

Classroom Extension:
I can see that children would really love this book.
1. To practice Rhyming words. Play a memory matching game, suit/cute, snake/cake, bee/knee, etc.
2. Create your own additional rhymes to add to the book.

A Giraffe and a Half is book written using rhyme and repetition to tell the account of what one would do if they “had a giraffe and he stretched another half.” The comedic poem uses alliteration and imagery to engage readers both, young and old. However, I found that even more exciting were Silverstein’s illustrations accompanying the poem. Although they are black and white, the illustrations are intricate and imaginative.