Zeraffa Giraffa- our new class book from a different culture.

Cross Fell have really enjoyed sharing Zeraffa Giraffa a picture book inspired by the true story of a giraffe sent as a gift to the King of France by the Great Pasha of Egypt in the 1820s. The exquisitely composed pictures show the different stages of the journey made by Zeraffa, accompanied by her keeper, the young boy Atir. They travel downriver in a felucca ‘to the place where the sea sipped up to the Nile’ and cross the sea under a star-filled sky. On arrival in Marseilles, it becomes apparent that the only practical way to get Zeraffa to her destination is to walk the 550 miles to Paris where she becomes much admired and inspires some extraordinary fashions- it has proved to be a great talking point and lovely to explore books set in a different country helping us to learn about different cultures.