Bookshelf

A Gold Star For George

  • Publisher
    Maverick Arts
  • Share this:

Something exciting is happening at the Heavenly Hippos Wildlife Park; gold stars are going to be awarded to winning animals in four categories: most popular, tidiest; most stylish; and best trick. George the giraffe is desperate for a prize – but the judge’s decision is final, and one by one, his fellow creatures fairly beat him to the top spot.

Canny listeners will spot important clues about George’s character as the story unfolds, however – noticing how he helps those who are smaller than him, is gracious in defeat, and keeps on smiling despite his disappointment. Sure enough, once the official competition is over, our hero finds himself the recipient of a whole heap of very important gold stars indeed, made for him by his friends and recognising the special qualities that they truly value in him

‘Everyone’s a winner’ isn’t necessarily a helpful message – but even though there will always be races that can only be taken by the fastest, and branches that are out of reach of the shortest, it’s good to be reminded, as we are here, that all our contributions count, and are appreciated most by the people whom we think about before ourselves.