Laura Marsh - National Geographic Readers: Giraffes

Children are naturally curious about the world around them, and
curiosity is a powerful motivation for reading. Studies show that
informational reading is critical to success in school. National
Geographic Kids Readers allow you to feed your childrens interests
and create readers who not only can read, but also want to read!

To sustain childrens excitement about reading, we have created a
special program called NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS SUPER READERS.
As kids read each National Geographic Kids Reader, they cross
off its picture on a free National Geographic Kids Super Readers
poster that parents can download from kids.nationalgeographic.com/
superreaders.

Throughout the process, kids and parents go to the website and
download specially designated prizes that reward their effort. Kids
can have even more reading fun online, with lively book-related
activities, quizzes and games, fascinating excerpts, and sneak
previews of upcoming books.

The National Geographic Kids Super Readers program appeals to
kids love of accomplishment while providing them with incentives
to keep reading. When the reading experience is fun, children learn
more and achieve more. What could be better than that?

Sincerely,

Mariam Jean Dreher
Professor of Reading Education
University of Maryland, College Park

For Eileen, Childrens Librarian
at the Scarsdale Library L. F. M.

Copyright 2016 National Geographic
Partners, LLC

Published by National Geographic
Partners, LLC, Washington, D.C. 20036

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in
part without written permission of the publisher
is prohibited.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and Yellow Border
Design are trademarks of the National
Geographic Society, used under license.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4263-2448-2
Reinforced library binding ISBN:
978-1-4263-2449-9
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4263-2451-2

The publisher and author gratefully acknowledge
the expert content review of this book by Katie
Ahl, Woodland Park Zoo, and the literacy review
of this book by Mariam Jean Dreher, professor
of reading education, University of Maryland,
College Park.

Art Director: Amanda Larsen
Designer: YAY! Design

Photo Credits
COVER (Front), Richard Du Toit/Minden Pictures;
1 (CTR), Michael Poliza/National Geographic
Creative; 3 (LO RT), RJ08/Shutterstock; 4-5 (LE),
Sherrod Photography/Shutterstock; 6 (CTR),
drpnncpptak/Shutterstock; 6 (RT), GlobalStock/
Getty Images; 7 (LO), Photoshot License Ltd/

Alamy; 8 (UP), Frans Lanting/Science Source;
8 (CTR), Anup Shah/Nature Picture Library; 8
(LO), David Hosking/Minden Pictures; 9 (LO),
Steven Ruiter/Minden Pictures; 10-11 (UP), John
Warburton-Lee Photography/Alamy; 12-13 (CTR),
Wayne Hughes/Alamy; 13 (UP RT), feelphoto/
Shutterstock; 14 (CTR), georgesanker.com/
Alamy; 15 (CTR), Richard Du Toit/Minden
Pictures; 16-17 (CTR), Panoramic Images/Getty
Images; 18 (UP LE), Martin Harvey/Kimball
Stock; 18 (CTR), Mitsuaki Iwago/Minden Pictures;
18 (LO LE), meunierd/Shutterstock; 19 (UP LE),
joSon/Getty Images; 19 (CTR RT), Daniel J. Cox/
Kimball Stock; 19 (LO LE), Terry Andrewartha/
Minden Pictures; 20 (CTR), Stephan Bonneau/
Minden Pictures; 21 (UP), Barcroft Media/Getty
Images; 22 (CTR), Stacey Ann Alberts/Shutter
stock; 24 (UP), Horst Klemm/Great Stock/Corbis;
24 (LO), Jim Brandenburg/Minden Pictures;
26 (UP), Stephen Belcher/Corbis; 27 (CTR),
Lou Coetzer/Nature Picture Library; 28 (CTR),
All Canada Photos/Alamy; 29 (CTR), Mitsuyoshi
Tatematsu/Minden Pictures; 30 (LO LE), Pictures
Wild/Shutterstock; 30 (LO RT), moizhusein/
Shutterstock; 31 (UP LE), Hanne & Jens Eriksen/
Nature Picture Library; 31 (UP RT), PhotoDisc; 31
(LO LE), Jak Wonderly/National Geographic; 31
(LO RT), schankz/Shutterstock; 32 (UP LE),
Denis-Huot/Nature Picture Library; 32 (UP RT),
Photodisc; 32 (LO LE), John Warburton-Lee
Photography/Alamy; 32 (LO RT), Jim Branden
burg/Minden Pictures; Top border (throughout),
Photomario/Shutterstock; Vocabulary box art
(throughout), Danilo Sanino/Shutterstock

National Geographic supports K12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.
Visit natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

What do you call
an animal so tall,
it reaches the
treetops with no
help at all?

Thats a big clue.
Do you want to
guess who?

A giraffe!

How do you fit a giraffe
in a sports car?

Put the top
down!

Did you know that giraffes are the
tallest animals on land?

Their legs are as tall as a grown man.
Their necks are just as tall. If you
add in their bodies, that means
giraffes can be to feet tall!

Giraffes are much taller than other animals.

Giraffes have spots.
Their spots can be
light tan. They can
also be brown or
almost black.

How are the giraffes
patterns different?

Each giraffe has a pattern of
spots. But no two giraffes
have the same pattern. Thats
how you can tell them apart.

PATTERN: A collection of
shapes that makes a design

A herd of giraffes walks on the African plains.

Giraffes live where its hot and dry.
They live on the plains in Africa