The Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company has just moved in to the old wooden house not far from where Billy lives. He'd rather have a wonderful sweet-shop, but when he meets the members of the Company - the Giraffe, the Pelican and the Monkey - he can't believe his eyes.

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is another of Roald's books for younger readers. It started out with three characters, but no story. Quentin Blake liked the idea of a giraffe, as he'd never drawn one before. He also knew he could have fun with a pelican's beak. And Roald Dahl loved the monkey previously drawn by Quentin for The Enormous Crocodile, so insisted he was included too.

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me was published in 1985. At the end of the story, the monkey sings Billy a song, the words of which are carved into stone slabs around the base of a bench which sits just near Roald Dahl's grave: 

"We have tears in our eyes
As we wave our goodbyes,
We so loved being with you, we three.
So do please now and then
Come see us again,
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me."

You can visit Roald Dahl's grave in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul in Great Missenden. It's just down the road from the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.

Publisher: Puffin Bks

Released: 2009

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