When she is eleven years old, Martine's parents die in a tragic house fire. This first instalment is recommended for young nature lovers. The mystery side of the story is a little weak and Bookbag is unsure how far this series can be sustained. This third African adventure is written with all the zest and skill that have endeared so many readers to THE WHITE GIRAFFE and DOLPHIN SONG.Summary: Very strong in its descriptions of Africa and in its study of grief, The White Giraffe has a lot to offer. They must decide who their friends and enemies really are as they race against time to save the world's rarest leopard and each other. They'll come face to face with Griffin, Mercy, Mr Ratcliffe (known as Rat), Magnus the hornbill, and a witch doctor, not to mention Khan, the last leopard. When they uncover a plot in which the fate of a magnificent leopard and the lost treasure of an African King are mysteriously linked, their friendship faces its greatest test.įar from home and the help of Grace and Tendai, and with Gwyn Thomas languishing, under false accusations, in jail, Martine and Ben must use every survival skill they possess. It is a lawless land, where nothing is as it seems. Martine is looking forward to the holidays and riding Jemmy, her white giraffe, until an accident sends her and Ben on a journey to the Matobo Hills wilderness in Zimbabwe. The third of Lauren St John's heartwarming White Giraffe series, in which Martine and Ben must save the world's rarest leopard. Above all it's is a heart-warming story, full of charm and atmosphere, and Martine's sheer delight in her giraffe friend and the fantastic landscape which is theirs to explore. This is the beginning of her mysterious and magical adventures - her discovery of her gift of healing and a secret valley that she travels to with the giraffe, where she'll find clues about her past and future. One night Martine, lonely and feeling slightly rebellious too, looks out of her window and see a young albino giraffe - silver, tinged with cinnamon in the moonlight. There are secrets about Sawubona (the reserve) just waiting to be revealed, and rumours too about a fabled white giraffe - a trophy for hunters everywhere. But she has an ally in Tendai - one of the keepers on the reserve, from whom she learns the lore and survival techniques of the bush, and in Grace - who instantly senses there is something special about Martine. Her grandmother seems strangely unwelcoming and Martine has a difficult time settling in at her new school, where she is conspicuously an outsider. When she is eleven years old, Martine is orphaned and sent to live with her grandmother on a game reserve in South Africa.

Martine the white giraffe