Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Jojo Giraffe's Big Laugh

Rate this book
Kali is hiding in a tree, crying because the other kids make fun of her for being too short. Jojo listens to her story, then asks her to climb aboard her long giraffe neck to see the bigger picture. Together they ride through the African landscape, meeting several animals. Through this journey, Jojo demonstrates to Kali that others' opinions do not always reflect the truth, and that seeing the real truth can often help you find your laugh...

Jojo helps Kali gain a new, bigger perspective, and shows her that not taking things personally is an important key to living a big, happy life!

Each EQ Explorers book teaches important EQ principles and other powerful life lessons - one adventure at a time.

40 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2019

9 people are currently reading
1516 people want to read

About the author

Kim Linette

10 books59 followers
Kim Linette is a mother to six wonderful kids and passionate about helping children from all walks of life--especially children in emotionally challenging environments.

An entrepreneur at heart, Kim Linette created a multi-faceted initiative to empower children--and in turn, their parents and caregivers--to live big, bold, authentically happy lives.

Kim Linette recently founded Kapalua Cove Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and empowering children in need. The foundation provides direct donations to charitable initiatives and donates books to orphanages, remote libraries, care centers, and more.

Along with the foundation, she launched Kapalua Cove Publishing. Her first book project is a series called EQ Explorers, designed to educate and inspire children through beautifully illustrated, creative-yet-relatable tales. 100% of profits from EQ Explorers books are donated to the Kapalua Cove Foundation's charitable efforts.

In ancient Hawaiian, "Kapalua" means "arms embracing the sea." It's a word that perfectly depicts Kim Linette's desire to embrace and help nurture children around the world, providing the tools and opportunities they need to live happy, healthy, emotionally connected lives.

Along with Kapalua Cove, she's working on the Real Happy Parent Podcast (coming soon) to help parents discover their path to personal happiness.

To follow EQ Explorers visit our website at EQexplorers.com

Over the years, Kim Linette developed the skills and resources to pursue this passion. Early in her career, she co-founded several smaller companies before launching BlenderBottle Company in 2000, with her husband, Steve. Kim Linette still serves as the company's COO, overseeing half of the worldwide day-to-day business. Now that their children are grown, Kim Linette devotes her spare time to helping children in need. She is truly living her dream, and is eager to help others find authentic happiness in all they do!

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
34 (57%)
4 stars
12 (20%)
3 stars
6 (10%)
2 stars
4 (6%)
1 star
3 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for Aeicha .
832 reviews110 followers
July 7, 2020
Kim Linette’s EQ Explorers series aims to encourage and inspire readers with tales that explore and teach emotional intelligence (EQ)...and 100% of profits are donated to help children around the world!

Through charming, clever storytelling; relatable situations; and carefully crafted, pitch-perfect delivery of ideas, each book in this series gently and thoroughly explores an important aspect of emotional intelligence and offers readers valuable life lessons. Linette’s charismatic animal characters and diverse, smart kid characters prove to be entertaining and engaging. James Loram captures the heart and humor of each tale through bright, lush nature scenes full of beautiful details.

With fun tales, great illustrations, and important lessons, the EQ Explorers series will delight, educate, and captivate young readers.
60 reviews1 follower
September 14, 2020
My kid received a free copy thanks to Goodreads and enjoyed this funny book, beautifully illustrated and with a positive message. No doubt he will read it again soon ! Characters are kind and friendly. 2nd graders should be able to read the story alone but it is recommended to read it with a parent to discuss around bullying and spend quality time in family.
236 reviews
September 12, 2020
This book will keep your attention. The message is an important one for everyone, not just children. The illustrations add to the story of keeping things in perspective and not taking things personally.
Profile Image for Kassie.
349 reviews3 followers
September 10, 2020
The concept is good. The art work is good. The message is good. But it's only "good," not a must-read, not a how-did-I-live-before-this-book or a can't-wait-to-read-it-again book.

It's long for a PB, in my opinion, and overly preachy. I got it for free, though, so I can't complain! It was "good."
46 reviews10 followers
January 31, 2020
Important series to help children improve their self-esteem

This is the second book of the EQ Explorer series I've read, and I enjoyed them both. In this book, Jojo Giraffe helps Kali learn how to have a positive response to being bullied. The message is that grumpy giraffes and people tend to say unkind things, while those that are happy tend to be kind. So Kali is advised to not take unkind words personally. The end of the book includes ideas adults can use to encourage children to relate and discuss their own negative experiences. And there are also a few facts about giraffes, plus bees to look for!

I did have to upload the Amazon update to make the layout readable, and was happy the update did solve that problem. Note: I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway.
Profile Image for Lexi.
145 reviews3 followers
October 18, 2021
I won this title in a Goodreads giveaway and am pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it so much. I think the storyline is clear and east to follow. The characters are well developed and the concept is carried through the whole story. My 4 year old and 8 year old both enjoyed it. I think it makes being teased very simple to understand and it provides an excellent solution! The illustrations and book quality are great as well!
Profile Image for Elizabeth Edwards.
5,552 reviews9 followers
January 11, 2020
such a fan, 3rd book from this author i've read, so cool. curious how they came up with the art work, love the illustrations, so very awesome ... creative story ... u decide. made me smile. i think all kids would enjoy this read. check it out.
28 reviews12 followers
April 5, 2023
I think it is a really good book. I won it in one of the giveaways and I just loved it. it will have kids understand not to take everything personally just like what it says while I was reading.
Profile Image for Amanda Sexton.
1,306 reviews4 followers
September 10, 2020
I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway.

I thought this book was extremely well done. The author works to teach children that others’ opinions are just that, their OPINIONS, and we shouldn’t base our perspective about ourselves on what they say about us. Quote from the book, “I learned long ago: there’s no sense arguing with a hippo or ant or anyone else who doesn’t really understand me. It’s better to just listen politely, and then choose what I believe.” In today’s society, I feel like so many people get so easily offended by what others say, so teaching our young children to be able to laugh about what others think of us instead of it making us upset is a valuable lesson.

The illustrations are fun, the care put into them shows that the illustrator understands color and what appeals to young children. He took the author’s message and brought it to life. He didn’t just put basic pictures, but gave children the opportunity to absorb things in the background (I love that kids are encouraged to count the pictures of the bee throughout the book!).

I love the glossy pages and the hardback cover, though the slipcover will most likely be lost by the nieces I pass this book onto. I think this book will be enjoyed by them, age 5 and 7. I believe children younger than 5 would benefit from reading this book, and it would also be a great book to read as a family and use the discussion questions in the back to really dig in with older children about perspective.
Profile Image for Barbara Ann.
Author 22 books187 followers
July 22, 2020
This book is part of the EQ Explorers, Little Adventures for a Happy Life. The profits from the sale of these books are donated to underserved children.

Kali is hiding in a tree crying because the other kids make fun of her for being short and spending her time climbing trees. Jojo passes by and encourages her to laugh. He shows her perspective, a new way of things. The giraffe shares his personal experience with other giraffes. He encourages her not to take things personally and to value her own opinions of herself rather than those of others. As they walk and meet other animals like ants, hippos, and zebras, the lesson becomes clear.

Beautiful colors and expressive images foster the imprinting of the story on young minds. This book is a good choice for a read aloud or bedtime story for children in elementary school.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and voluntarily chose to read and review with my honest opinions for no compensation.
Profile Image for Kimber.
26 reviews7 followers
September 11, 2020
Received this as a giveaway and could not be happier. My 5 year old niece and 3 year old nephew LOVE this book!! I even actually caught myself thinking about the lessons from the book today when I had someone being unkind at work. The story is educational and cute, the illustrations are very well done. Love the extras like the fun facts about girrafes and finding Buddy Bee throughout the story.
Also, I want to mention that the main character is illustrated to be Black, so it gave me the opportunity to speak on race with my niece and nephew. Unfortunately, all of their other picture books only represent white humans or talking animals. With the climate of the world today, I was so grateful to get to have these conversations now with such a cute book as a gateway to this. Highly recommend getting this for all the munchkins in your life!
Profile Image for Lizzie (Dizzy Lizzie’s Book Emporium).
308 reviews32 followers
December 12, 2019
I won a Kindle copy of this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway. Normally, I don't enter giveaways for children's books, but this time I decided to because my dog's name is Joe Joe, and we sometimes call him a giraffe because his neck is very long. I loved this book!! What a cute way to introduce kids to the concept of reframing! Comparison to others is so damaging to self-esteem, and I believe that the battle against comparison will become harder and harder in our increasingly digital age. This brief introduction to reframing and perspective-taking is a wonderful way for kids to learn to embrace their uniqueness and understand the message that "hurt people hurt people." I will definitely be keeping this book in the back of my mind for my future kids!
Profile Image for Michele Minor.
449 reviews4 followers
September 12, 2020
This is a great book for children to learn about seeing things from another person's perspective and not to take things too personally. Jojo Giraffe takes Kali around the neighborhood showing how some of the comments that others make can seem silly when applied to her and to appreciate the differences in others. At the end of the book there are questions for discussion that can be used to demonstrate how much a child has learned from the story. There are also a few fun facts about giraffes at the end of the story as well as an activity for children that is embedded in the story. I received a copy of this book from Goodread's First Reads in exchange for a review.
1,499 reviews6 followers
January 21, 2020
This is a very nice story for little children, explaining 'perspective' (seems like a big word for littles, but is explained really well) & bullying. It has beautiful, colorful drawings/artwork & at the end has some guiding questions to explore with the kids after you've read together & also some fun facts about giraffes. Just the right length for reading & interacting with little kids. It'd be a great book to have in your library!
I received this e-book in a Goodreads First Read Giveaway Program, with the understanding that I'd read it & post my own fair & honest review.
Profile Image for Sarah Martinez.
70 reviews18 followers
September 7, 2020
This was such a cute book with a great message. I love that there is both talking points for parents and facts about giraffes in the back for raven more teaching opportunities. Also fun for little ones is that there is Buddy Bee on many of the pages and you’re told to count how many you can find. The story may be a bit long for my little girl (3), but the illustrations are cute and we can still enjoy it. Probably best suited for 4+

Book won in Goodreads giveaway, but opinions are true and my own.
115 reviews5 followers
September 9, 2020
A Goodreads Giveaway that I won for my granddaughter. Many great teaching and discussion points for young children. There are beautiful illustrations of the young girl and different African animals that Jojo the giraffe takes her to visit. Jojo demonstrates to her about accepting who you are and enjoying life no matter what others say. My granddaughter is still a little too young to get the story but is learning about animals so will enjoy it on that level. Many thanks for the Giveaway.
Profile Image for Felicia.
72 reviews
Read
January 8, 2020
I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway. It is a cute story about perspective. The author uses animals to help show how opinions and points of view differ. I would recommend this book for use in elementary classrooms and possibly middle school if used along with exercises and discussions.
Profile Image for Jan.
187 reviews5 followers
September 9, 2020
I absolutely loved this book! While it teaches children that everyone is unique, it teaches a valuable life lesson of how to deal with those that pick on them and what their teasing means.

The illustrations were fantastic! Very vivid colors. I loved the "pop-up" feel of the illustrations, giving it more depth.
159 reviews
August 12, 2021
Don't take things personally! Great Read

WOW! This book is spectacular!
Don't take things personally is a must read for all children (and adults)!
This is a major key for a positive self esteem.
When people learn this fact, their PERSPECTIVE changes for the better.
What an amazing conversation with our young ones.
A fantastic read for all children.
1,004 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2020
Jojo Giraffe's Big Laugh. An adventurous children's story to teach kids about emotional intelligence, bullying and what it means to be unique. It is part of EQ Explorers Book Series. It is well illustrated and young children will like the pictures
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.
569 reviews2 followers
September 6, 2020
I loved the illustrations and the intended message of this book, but some of the language felt too adult/forced for this age group and it came across a little like you should never listen to other people's perspective. How else will we learn?

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
103 reviews15 followers
September 9, 2020
Such a cute book. I really loved this book. As someone who has always been a bit on the short side, I can totally relate to Kali. I think this is a great way to help children realize that it's ok to be different.
343 reviews3 followers
September 22, 2020
A really good book that teaches young children that when others are making fun of you,maybe you should look at things from a different perspective. I really liked the animals climbing the tree towards the end of the story.
282 reviews5 followers
November 7, 2020
This is a very intuitive book for kids. My grandchildren really enjoyed it. It projects empathy and consideration for others without being preachy. I also loved the illustrations. So bright. I definitely recommend this.
60 reviews23 followers
December 14, 2019
This was a cute book, but difficult to read due to the print in the kindle edition. The words blurred together, no spacing, etc.
Profile Image for Erika.
39 reviews
March 5, 2020
It was a good book, but the words ran together and were missing chunks of the paragraph. NOTE: I read a Kindle edition
Profile Image for JoAnn.
518 reviews10 followers
September 5, 2020
I need this message as much as my child.

He enjoyed it. He gave thoughtful answers to the discussion questions included at the end. I know he will enjoy having this reread to him.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.