Dreamers All Giraffes Must Be

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“Dreamers all giraffes must be ... / with little else but clouds to
see / I think they must be very shy / to hold their faces up high. /
They think they’re hidden in the trees / Not knowing we can see their
knees; / And when it’s time to have their lunch, / They’ll take a
nearby leaf to munch, / It’s comical to watch them eat, / The puckered
face far from the feet. / So tall are they it isn’t known / If they
can see their feet when grown.”

This is the title poem from this poetry book for young readers. Other
subjects recorded in verse include a turtle, a butterfly, a roadrunner,
turkeys, Halloween, birdcalls, a peacock, and The Jack Pine Trail.
Although most of the rhyming couplets are competently written, none of
them are especially memorable. The black-ink illustrations accompanying
the poems are little better than amateurish. They combine with the
book’s unprofessional format (colored construction paper stapled
together) to make this collection resemble something junior
public-school students might turn out as a class project. Not
recommended.