Tall Giraffe YouTube

TALL GIRAFFE YouTube LAUNCHES TONIGHT!!!


My second picture book, Tall Giraffe is a family affair and collaboration. I wrote the dittie way back when, after being inspired in a back-to-school workshop at Concordia University. My annual August-in-Chicago presentation fills me with inspiration. I probably wrote the rhymes on the back of my presenter's envelope + package, knowing me.

When I heard the percussion grooves that my arranger friend, Tom Martin crafted I was THRILLED!! It's one of my favorite grooves on my third album. [Sorry the video doesn't capture that what-so-ever, but its beyond my pay grade to add a separate orchestration to the video. In fact the recording has my first four part chorale of back-ground singers!]


Years later we got the word that my niece Kelly was about to embark on a life-time adventure to Africa as a part of a mission trip to work with children effected by the AIDS epidemic. The song was already written and recorded. I'd already 'figured' out the process of self-publishing a picture book. So Kelly was dispatched with the instructions to take as many photographs of giraffes in the wild as possible. So she and friends set off on safari with cameras in hand. We only had to 'purchase' the single picture of the giraffe with a happy, lappy tongue. Everything else came from Kelly + friends + friends of friends.

To keep 'everything' in the family, my sister Rebecca (yes, that's Kelly's mom) acted + aced the role of Art Director as we collaborated on the borders to frame the photos. I purchased all sorts of African fabrics at an international quilt show. She then scanned the fabrics into her MAC and we began to digitally quilt the fabric pieces together during family get-togethers -- she in Georgia and me in Ohio presented the occasional challenge, but we forged gradually ahead. Rebecca's tech-savvy skills really make the book sing! SISTERS!!

The traditional picture book format is now two years old and I'm finally getting the hang of processing video over to YouTube. This footage was filmed at last month's Children's Literature Conference (click here for posts on that fun.) The teachers and librarians in attendance are learning the sign language as the song unfolds in its call and response format. I think you can see their fun-time smiles as we continue through the song.


From my giraffe Pinterest collection, here's a screen shot of my current Giraffe board and the latest 9 resources pinned of the 200+ gazillion ideas that I've pinned for a great supplement for your giraffe studies. By all means get thyself over to Pinterest. I've got bulletin board ideas, snack ideas, craft ideas, graphic ideas, art project ideas, coloring page ideas, costume ideas..... well maybe you get the idea. Resistance is futile.