Quickie Review - "I Wish I Had..."

I am a sucker for giraffes.  Give me a book with a giraffe on the cover, and I am a happy camper.  And so it was with great joy I received a preview copy of Giovanna Zoboli’s I Wish I Had…, with it’s beautiful illustration (by Simona Mulazzani) of a towering giraffe on the cover.  Sadly, a giraffe does not feature on the inside of the book; the end of the title sentence is presented on the back cover.  But no mind.  The book is full of beautifully illustrated animals, including a tiger, a stalking cat, a wild goose and an owl.  Mulazzani’s illustrations are definitely the high point of this quick read.  The text is nice, a refrain of “I wish I had…”, such as “I wish I had the nimble legs of a hare as it runs until it is out of breath”.  Some lines scan very well, but others are a bit awkward in their pace, and the final page ends rather abruptly.  I don’t know if this is the responsibility of Zoboli, or the translator (the book was originally printing in Italian).  All in all, however, it is a beautiful book to flip through, and a pleasing refrain that would be well suited for bedtime.

I Wish I Had… by Giovanna Zoboli, ill. by Simona Mulazzani
2013, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Preview copy sent from publisher for review