A KISS FOR GIRAFFE

Piggy
wants to give his best friend a kiss, but how will he reach Giraffe’s face?

Koppens’
simple language sets up the problem on the first spread: “Giraffe and Piggy are
best friends. Piggy wants to give Giraffe a kiss, but Giraffe is too tall. ‘How
can I reach you?’ Piggy asks.” Succeeding spreads show Piggy’s creative, Rube
Goldberg–esque solutions, ones that children might think up on their own: dig a
hole for Giraffe to sit in, swing as high as he can on a rope, take a running
jump, and climb a ladder. Each fails, the last rather spectacularly, and as
Giraffe bends down to make sure Piggy is OK and give him a kiss, Piggy realizes
the obvious solution and takes the opportunity to kiss Giraffe in return: “Now,
why didn’t I think of that?” This is solely a problem-solution story rather a
friendship tale with depth, which might have made this book stand out. Savanna
backgrounds are simple, keeping the focus on the characters, which is a bit
problematic: Giraffe has no personality whatsoever, and their facial expression
barely changes at all, remaining largely static with vacant eyes. Piggy has a
little more spark.

Kids
will be a step ahead of Piggy in solving the problem of reaching Giraffe to
bestow a kiss, but that’s not enough to make it a good book. (Picture book.
2-5)