Karlin Gray - Anne and Her Tower of Giraffes: The Adventurous Life of the First Giraffologist

Karlin Gray grew up wanting to be a storyteller, and now she loves writing about people who made their childhood dreams come true, like Dr. Anne Innis Dagg. She is the author of two other picture book biographies, Nadia: The Girl Who Couldnt Sit Still and Serena: The Littlest Sister . Karlin holds a degree in creative writing from Florida State University. She lives with her family in Westport, Connecticut.

Aparna Varma is the illustrator of Pigs Big Feelings and the owner of the stationery company Green Bean Studio. When shes not drawing, you can find her working in animation production at Nelvana. Born and raised in India, Aparna also spent many formative years in Botswana, where she saw her first giraffe at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve. She now lives in Toronto, Ontario.

For my parents, Dan and Vicki Gray. And with gratitude to the unstoppable Dr. Anne Innis Dagg. K.G.

To my fond memories of Africa A.V.

What Is the Plural of Giraffe ?

Both giraffe and giraffes are correct when referring to more than one. Dr. Dagg uses giraffe both in speaking and in print. But for consistency throughout this boo k (and with Dr. Daggs permission), the author added an s to Dr. Daggs quotes about giraffes. And whats another word for a group of giraffes? A tower !

ISBN 978-1-5253-0815-4 (EPUB)

Text 2022 Karlin Gray Illustrations 2022 Aparna Varma

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Published in Canada and the U.S. by Kids Can Press Ltd. Dockside Drive, Toronto, ON M5A 0B5

Kids Can Press is a Corus Entertainment Inc. company

www.kidscanpress.com

The artwork in this book was rendered in colored pencils and Photoshop.

Edited by Jennifer Stokes and Katie Scott Designed by Michael Reis This ebook edition has been created using CircularFLO from Circular Software.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Anne and her tower of giraffes : the adventurous life of the first giraffologist / written by Karlin Gray ; illustrated by Aparna Varma. Names: Gray, Karlin, author. | Varma, Aparna, illustrator. Description: Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: Canadiana 20210360119 | ISBN 9781525304958 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Dagg, Anne Innis Juvenile literature. | LCSH: Women zoologists Canada Biography Juvenile literature. | LCSH: Zoologists Canada Biography Juvenile literature. | LCSH: Giraffe Africa Juvenile literature. | LCGFT: Biographies Classification: LCC QL31.D34 G73 2022 | DDC j590.92 dc23

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Four-year-old Anne explored the many wonders at Chicagos Brookfield Zoo until

her bright blue eyes spotted a towering, elegant creature.

Wow!

Anne gazed into the giraffes big brown eyes and refused to leave. Eventually, her mother insisted time to go!

But the memory of the beautiful giraffe followed her home to Toronto.

Anne drew picture after picture of her giraffe. She wanted to know EVERYTHING about it.

What do giraffes eat? Do they make noises? Why are their necks so long?

Growing up, she found plenty of library books about beavers, deer and even elephants, but NOTHING about giraffes.

Anne made a promise: one day, she would write a book all about giraffes.

Her friends were amused.

Anne loved going to school, always hoping her studies would include the long-necked creature with the big brown eyes.

Maybe this year, I ll learn something about giraffes.

But each year, Anne was disappointed.

Just before she turned twelve, Anne caught scarlet fever. Stuck in a hospital bed, she celebrated her birthday alone until three tiny visitors appeared!

Finally, after a month in the hospital, Anne felt better and packed her bag. But the nurse had bad news: because they didnt want germs to spread and infect others, they had to destroy all of Annes belongings including her giraffes!

Anne pleaded desperately on behalf of her new friends.

Scrubbed clean, three little giraffes followed Anne home.

At seventeen, Anne returned to the zoo. This time, a giraffe walked straight toward Anne and dipped his head over the fence.

Bright blues peered into big browns.

Annes love of giraffes guided her to a university to study zoology. Surely, shed learn about her favorite animal there!

But again, Anne was disappointed.

Anne couldnt wait any longer. She made a decision: if she couldnt find a way to study giraffes at home, she would travel to the giraffes true home the continent of Africa.

And that made a lot of people laugh.

A woman traveling across the world on her own? A woman studying animals in the wild? Unheard of!

But their laughter just made Anne more determined. She wrote letter after letter requesting help from national parks and game reserves.

One day, she received a life-changing reply from a ranch in South Africa where more than one hundred giraffes roamed free. She couldnt wait to tell her mother.

I can stay at this place Fleur de Lys Ranch while I watch giraffes EVERY day!

In the summer of 1956, Anne set off for a year of study, traveling by passenger ship from Canada to England from England to South Africa.

With another thousand miles left to travel, Anne bought a used car and named it Camelo short for the giraffes scientific name, Giraffa camelopardalis.

At last, Im in Africa!

After days of driving in the intense heat, she arrived at the ranch and was greeted by the owner, Mr. Matthew.

Welcome to Fleur de Lys Ranch!

In the morning, Mr. Matthew offered Anne his binoculars, a film recorder and a drive to see her first giraffe in the wild.

The moment Ive been waiting for my whole life!

They stopped near a pool of water where several animals gathered. One, two, three, four antelopes and

Bright blues peered into big browns.

Shes gorgeous!

Every day, from dawn to dusk, Anne and Camelo went giraffing.

Anne sought out the best places to observe giraffes and learned how to identify each one. Memorizing their markings, she named them all

Pom Pom: prominent horn hairs

The Twins: close buddies

Cream: a cream rather than a white background

Lumpy: lumps on his lower neck

Limpy: a snare embedded in his lower leg

Pim: gentle