Don't Laugh at Giraffe

by Rebecca Bender

All Giraffe and Bird do is bicker and make fun of each other. But for dignified Giraffe, it's a different thing altogether when the other animals laugh at him, too. Now it's up to Bird to make things right for his friend. Giraffe and Bird make the oddest pair. All they do is spat, squabble and get on each other's nerves. In the morning, Bird uses his loudest outdoor voice, so Giraffe makes a disgusting noise as he clears his phlegmy throat, so Bird tickles his neck, and...well, you get the picture. There's nothing Bird likes more than to have a laugh at the expense of his lanky friend, and one dry day at the pond, he gets his chance. Giraffe's awkward attempt to reach the water without getting his hooves wet raises a cackle from a flamingo, a chortle from the zebra, then a howl from the hippo. Soon everyone is having a good laugh...especially Bird. In fact, Bird is having a ball until he realizes that his mortified friend has left the pond without quenching his thirst. Now Bird is sorry. How will he get Giraffe back? Author/illustrator Rebecca Bender's hilarious illustrations accompany a story about empathy and the trials of friendship that will persuade young readers that it's okay to look goofy and laugh at yourself once in a while, especially when you have a good friend by your side.

Rebecca Bender Author Biography

Rebecca Bender made a big splash with her first picture book, Giraffe and Bird, which won the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Blue Spruce Award in 2012. The following year, Don’t Laugh at Giraffe was an OLA Blue Spruce honour book. A graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, Rebecca works as an author, illustrator, designer, and art director. She lives with her husband and two children in Burlington, Ontario.