A fine book to read

Giraffe Books is one of our newest publishing houses, yet despite its newness it has become one of the most prestigious. Several very fine books – particularly in the literary field – bear its imprint. Publication by Giraffe is a guarantee of quality.

The remarkable thing about this publishing establishment is that it is a one-man – or rather a one-woman – operation. The owner, director, editor, and everything else is Gloria F. Rodriguez.

Mrs. Rodriguez began her publishing career as the director of New Day Publishers which she headed for many years. During her long tenure New Day became one of the more important publishers in the Philippines, with several important books to its credit. When she retired from that firm, she decided to open her own publishing house. Hence, Giraffe.

The name Giraffe (with a figure of that animal for logo) is distinctive. It also inherits a tradition among publishers, for several well-known ones are named after animals: Phoenix Press of London, Bantam Books, Pelican, Penguin, Pocket Books with a picture of a kangaroo for logo. And so on.

Recently I received in the mail an elegant little book published by Giraffe. It is really only a booklet of 68 pages, attractively printed in easy-to-read type ("typeset in 12 pts. Jester" says the colophon). Its title: Food For thought From the Internet, compiled and edited by Gloria F. Rodriguez.

She says in her Introduction that the contents were compiled over a period of years, "to share with those who wish to live with values in their lives." She gives credit to a number of persons (some of them well known) who have helped in the selection.

Because I received this book as a gift, I don’t know how much it costs. But those interested can inquire from Giraffe Books, 7 Visayas Avenue (corner DANR Street), Quezon City. Telefax 928-9269.

Royalties from the sale of the book are to go to a scholarship fund in honor of the late William Henry Scott, the Episcopalian lay missionary who lived in Sagada, Mountain Province, and who became one of our best historians. His death was a great loss to Philippine historiography. The scholarship fund is administered by the Episcopal Church’s Seminary: St. Andrew Theological Seminary of Quezon City.

This book is not for the sophisticated or for those who scoff at simple things as "corny". "Unless you become as little children you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," says the Lord. This book is for those who try to qualify for admission.

Some of the pieces could be improved stylistically (less sentimental, more matter of fact) and it is possible that some of the edifying deeds narrated are not historically true. No matter. Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Lear and Dickens’s Sidney Carton are fictitious figures. So are Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Yet we learn lessons from them.

If you should manage to get hold of a copy, open to page 40 and read a short piece entitled "Color Coding." If you like that piece (as I do), you will approve of the values illustrated by the other pieces in the book.