Raf by Anke De Cries

[katekintailbc]

Raf
by Anke De Cries

I stumbled upon this book while doing the picklist last week. It's adorable! A boy has a cute friend giraffe stuffed animal named Raf and he loses him--which is enough to crush my stuff animal-loving heart. Someone finds Raf and sends the boy postcards of adventures. It's written in such a way that you could believe that Raf was really the one sending them but it's also a super sweet thing for the finder to do. Raf has adventures all over Africa and goes through some changes--he gets darker from so much sun and has some run-ins with native wildlife which leave him slightly damaged. In the end, he winds up on the boy's doorstep and is welcomed back.

An adorable book that blurred a child's perspective with reality (when the other stuffed animals were sad, it broke my heart anew!). The art was absolutely gorgeous. And it was great seeing little glimpses of another continent through a stuffed giraffe's eyes! Clever, enjoyable, and beautiful.