The Warm Place

by Nancy Farmer

When Ruva, a young giraffe, is captured and sent to a zoo in San Francisco, she calls upon two rats, a street-smart chameleon, a runaway boy, and all the magical powers of the animal world to return to "the warm place" that is home.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Young Adult, Animals, Juvenile, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy

152 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Nancy was born in 1941 in Phoenix and grew up in a hotel on the Arizona-Mexico border where she worked the switchboard at the age of nine. She also found time to hang out in the old state prison and the hobo jungle along the banks of the Colorado River. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, earning her BA in 1963. Instead of taking a regular job, she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to India (1963-1965). When she returned, she moved into a commune in Berkeley, sold newspapers on the street for a while, then got a job in the Entomology department at UC Berkeley and also took courses in Chemistry there. Restless, again, she decided to visit Africa. She and a friend tried to hitchhike by boat but the ship they'd selected turned out to be stolen and was boarded by the Coast Guard just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. Nancy eventually got to Africa on a legal ship. She spent more than a year on Lake Cabora Bassa in Mozambique, monitoring water weeds. Next she was hired to help control tsetse fly in the dense bush on the banks of the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. Part of the time she spent in the capital, Harare, and was introduced to her soon-to-be husband by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. He proposed a week later. Harold and Nancy now live in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona on a major drug route for the Sinaloa Cartel. This is the setting for The Lord of Opium. They have a son, Daniel, who is in the U.S. navy.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.

Reviews

[Caitlin N. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this as a child and hated it. It was very sad and scary for me. I spent years trying to remember it after being haunted by the image of a witch using her snake-tongue to eat a jelly donut. The end.

[Brooklynn Griffith · Rating 2 out of 5]

REQUIRED AUTHOR-NANCY FARMER
This novel tells the story of a baby giraffe (Ruva) who is captured in Africa and sent to a cruel American zoo. On the boat ride to America, Ruva meets Rodentus von Stroheim the Third, a stowaway rat who takes it upon himself to educate the young giraffe. The two are suddenly separated when Ruva arrives at the zoo, and she once again finds herself alone in a strange place. Eventually, Ruva is able to learn more about herself and the world around her so that she can escape with the help of a chameleon named Nelson and a mischievous rat named Troll. The group then stowaway on ship bound for Africa that also contains their old friend Rodentus and a runaway boy named Kabila. On the journey back to Ruva's homeland, the crew is faced with further turmoil as they must relieve the ship of the evil spirits who are commanding it. The composition of this story felt like a very fanatical folk-lore tale directed at middle grade readers. This story really focused on the idea of home - specifically what and where a home is. Each of the characters had to discover for themselves how to find their way back home, and what having a home meant to them. Also, this tale seemed to be an Animal Farm-esq retelling of African slavery that occurred in America and those slaves' stories of escape.

[Desarae Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute story about a baby giraffe that gets separated from her mom and how she faces challenges! I love giraffes and this was a great story to read!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This young adult novel is about a baby giraffe, who, unintentionally, goes on a great adventure.

Ruva is a female baby giraffe happily living with her family in Africa. One day, she ignores the warning by her mother to stay away from things with which she is not familiar. Next thing she knows, Ruva is caught in a net, taken from her family, and put on a steamship heading for parts unknown. While on board, she meets Rodnetus von Stroheim III, a very smart talking rat, who begins tutoring Ruva in general knowledge. You never know when knowing the multiplication tables might be useful.

Ruva ends up at a third-rate zoo in California. Dante, the owner, is more interested in gouging the public than in taking care of the animals. It's a place of concrete and iron bars, and it does not help Ruva's frame of mind to be next door to the lions. Ruva is helped by knowledge of the Warm Place, the instinctive feeling that home is ... That Way.

Along with a lock-picking rat named Troll, and a cynical chameleon named Nelson (who has a really interesting talent when it comes to lions), Ruva breaks out of the zoo, and finds a ship headed for Africa. There they meet Jabir, a young black boy who is a servant/slave with his own reasons for wanting to go to Africa. They stowaway on the ship, joined by Rodentus, crewed by the Slopes, the same demons/trolls who kidnapped Ruva in the beginning.

Also on the ship is a crate of strangleweeds, a very fast growing plant that can suck a lake dry or pull down every tree in a forest very quickly. The Slopes plan something really unpleasant for the human, and animal, residents of Africa with the strangleweeds. Can Ruva and friends stop their evil plan? Does Ruva make it back her to her family?

This is an excellent book for children, and will certainly keep them interested. Teenagers and adults might notice a plot hole or two, but it is still worth reading.

[Ashleync · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh man this book.
In Farmers first novel, Ruva, a baby giraffe from Africa, is captured by foul smelling humans and transported to a zoo in San Fransisco. while on the ship that is transporting her a knowledgeable rat, Rodentous, tells her all she needs to know about the human world and how to escape the zoo. at first Ruva is depressed in the zoo and feels that she will never be able to escape, but she makes friends with a grumpy chameleon and a tricky rat that help her. She learns the power of giraffe magic and uses that to escape the zoo with her new friends. They sneak aboard a ship and find a boy who can speak the common language (what the everyone human and animals alike before the tower of Babel). Reunited with Rodentous, Ruva and all her friends take over the ship and sail back to africa where Ruva is reunited with her mother.

I didnt really like this book. Honestly the writing style sucked and im not one for books about talking animals. On the spectrum young adult novels this was heavily on the side of young. It was too nice, really.
I will say there was one thing that i thought was interesting. Farmer should the creation from the animals perspective. In the beginning animals and man spoke the same language. The tower of babel was built to keep the animals and humans separated becasue the problems between them were increasing, but after the destruction of the tower the humans lost the common language.
I would maybe (heavy emphasis on the maybe) read this to a very small child....maybe.

[Cliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was only starting out here when I first read this book, so I did not write a review. However, I decided that this might be a fun book to read aloud to my boys, so I took it down from the shelf and read.

The book has its flaws, but they can be overlooked as the intended reader is probably in elementary school. What we have is a pleasant story of a young giraffe who is separated from her family and home in Africa and sold to a small zoo. She soon realizes that she must find a way to return home and that the only way that can be done is with the help of some animal friends and by learning the ways of being an animal.

This would seem a fairly pedestrian children's book, except that Nancy Farmer uses a worldly rat named Rodentus to explain why this world works as it does. Throughout, we are retold several ancient tales, but from the animal's viewpoint, including the Tower of Babel, King Solomon and even Noah's Ark. These re-imaginings are remarkably clever, but may not have as much impact for children who may not yet know the stories upon which they are based.

But for my boys, this was fine as they found a fantastic character in the smart-mouthed chameleon Nelson. Though it made reading aloud a bit of a challenge as you needed to scan ahead to know when characters are speaking sarcastically or with a snarky attitude.

The end of the book feels a bit rushed to me, but it accomplishes the pressing need, which is to resolve Ruva's story first and foremost.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genre/Category: Fantasy

Written from the perspective of a young giraffe, Ruva, who is taken from her mother in Africa and shipped to a zoo in America, this entertaining novel provides a fun and unique coming of age story. Ruva makes friends with two rats, a chameleon, and a young boy, along her journey who are all trying to find their own way back home. Using the magical animal powers she remembers her mother telling her about, Ruva and her friends are able to escape from the zoo, find their way onto a ship headed to Africa, and eradicate the demons controlling the ship, making it possible for them to sail safely back to Africa where Ruva is reunited with her mother. While it doesn’t seem quite like a fantasy novel, this story uses talking animals with magical powers to illustrate an adolescent growing up and finding her own way in the world. As she makes her escape and travels back to Africa, Ruva learns many things about herself, most of which relate back to things she learned from her mother, but didn’t quite understand at the time they were taught to her. Although it deals with change and self-reliance, I would recommend this book to young teens and children rather than to older adolescents or adults.

[Becca Hay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nancy Farmer, author of the fictional novel "The Warm Place," wrote a beautiful tale of family and the yearning for home felt in all children through the tale of one little giraffe named Ruav. Stolen at a young age by the evil Slopes, Ruav is put in a zoo where she makes friends with a chameleon, Nelson, and a rat, Troll, both of whom assist her on her quest to return to her "warm place," home in Africa. Stowing away on a ship returning to Africa, this odd mix of friends picks up two more members, a slave boy, Jabila, and the extraordinarily intelligent rat, Rodentus von Stropheim the Third. Through teamwork and sheer determination to achieve their goal, this motley crew destroy all but one of the evil Slopes and make it safely into Africa, each character finding their "warm place" in the end. This books was well written and for a younger audience the superficial story line is easily grasped. However, there are those one liners containing a killer message, that rare gem found amongst all the pebbles, that make the book enjoyable for older audiences as well. Farmer fluidly mixes the profound with the perfunctory and creates a novel appealing to a versatile audience.

[Joshlin Manning · Rating 2 out of 5]

NANCY FARMER and FANTASY
The warm place is a mythical story about a giraffe named Ruva, who at a young age gets kidnapped by humans and torn from her home and mother in Africa. She goes on an adventure, in a voyage to a zoo, that she learns to escape. She then takes a return voyage home to Africa dealing with ship mutiny, poisonous fast growing weeds, and animals that can transform. Along the way, she meets 3 other animal friends, who each posses a certain talent/ability/magical power, the most important of which is Rodentus. He teaches them stories and legacies, based on Biblical stories, about why animals are the way that they are. She also befriends a human child, who has a coming of age journey parallel to hers. The book is a unique blend of animal descriptions and folklore and religion. As I started reading, I thought the book was rather juvenile, but on goodreads, one of the tags is "young adult fiction," so I kept reading. After finishing the book, however, I think it is more appealing to younger audiences. 9+ This isn't my favorite genre, so I wasn't enthralled by it but it had some nice adventure sequences and could be appealing to more fantasy-minded readers.

[Jessica Richins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruva, a baby giraffe, is captured in Africa and sent to a zoo in San Francisco. On the boat to America she makes friends with a rat that teaches her about life. While at the zoo she makes friends with a African chameleon and another rat. The three of them escape the zoo and make it onto a boat bound for Africa. While on the boat the meet a young boy who is being held prisoner. Will they all be able to make it back to their “ warm place" that is home.
This book is for a younger audience (10-13). The story is really simple, and not very hard to read. I thought the book was sweet, and a fun quick read. I thought that the idea of the “warm place” that was shown throughout the book was a fun way for the animals to find their way back home. This book allows kids to open up their imaginations and look to mystery for answers. I think this book did a good job of showing kids that imagination is good, and that anything can happen when you put your mind to something.

[Claire Mizukawa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a cute book. A little young for YA I thought, but I see how some kids would totally love it. The main character, Ruva, is a giraffe who gets kidnapped by the dastardly Snope siblings. She gets taken from her beloved Africa to America, where she is sold to the zoo. Naturally she hates it there, and with the help of some other animal friends, escapes and sneaks back onto a ship where she meets a young boy who has been taken as a slave as well. They, along with two rats and a chameleon, overthrow the terrible Snopes and make it back home. All in all it was a cute book but I didn't really get into it because it is from the perspective of a little giraffe....yeah....but I did like how it retold some of the ancient stories from the bible from the animals' point of view (Noah, The Tower of Babel, etc.). Overall it was a pretty young YA but it was hard enough that middle schoolers, especially those really into animals, would really like this tame adventure story.

[Heidi Grether · Rating 3 out of 5]

NANCY FARMER CATEGORY

Farmer's book tells the story of a captive young giraffe, named Ruva, who makes her way back to Africa with an eclectic group of friends: two rats, a chameleon, and a young boy. I liked this book, and it was a whimsical read. This book is much unlike Farmer's other books, especially "House of the Scorpion." While "House of the Scorpion" is bleak and asks important questions about society, "The Warm Place" is much more hopeful and the talking animals make it more accessible to a younger audience. However, this book does deal with important themes such as slavery and religion, seeing as the animals tell their own versions of the flood and King Solomon. As I mentioned, this book would be more tempting for younger young adults than some of her other works because it is short, and features lovable animals. I would recommend this book for teenagers of ages about 13-15.

[Ashley Ardans · Rating 4 out of 5]

REQUIRED AUTHOR: NANCY FARMER
I enjoyed this book. It follows the story of a baby giraffe who is kidnapped and taken to a zoo. She meets a couple ingenious rats, a chameleon, and a boy who help her discover the magic within her and return to her mother in Africa. Even though this book is aimed, I feel, at slightly younger readers, it promotes a great message of home, family, and friendship. I would recommend this book for readers ages 8-14.

[Jenna Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nancy Farmer requirement
The Warm Place by Nancy Farmer follows the story of Ruva, a young giraffe, who has been captured and sent to a zoo in San Francisco. With her friends she makes along her journey, she embarks to return home to Africa.
This book lacks the ability to suspend disbelief. Supposed "magic" is meant to solve problems in a snap, but just looks ridiculous. Biblical stories are given strange twists to build up the world, but the thought of most of them are startling and don't sit very well. Characters lack depth, and the writing is bland. It has a fine little adventure to it, that might charm younger readers. This book would be best suited for a young YA reader, but more likely an MG reader.

[Kaelin Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of all the young adult literature I have read, this is the first one that is from the viewpoint of an animal which calls into question "what makes this a young adult novel?"
Besides not being human, however, the main giraffe protagonist, Ruva, is young when she is captured in Africa and is taken to an unfamiliar zoo far from home. Adventure and trying to find home again comprise perfect elements for a young adult text.
Although this book felt more geared towards younger children, possibly middle grade, I felt that there could be a deeper analysis and discussion with high school students on the underlying theme of the African slave trade more obvious to older readers.

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, especially the unique magical abilities of each animal. Did you know that lions are deathly afraid of chameleons because of a spat on Noah's ark? I told josh that the book was going downhill as a read it and he said, I just heard you laugh out loud a second ago! So in the end, funny little book full of fantasy and adventure but nevertheless loses steam in the second half.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming of age/wisdom/anthropomorphic animals

This story is about Ruva, a baby giraffe who gets captured by poachers and sold to a zoo. She is taught by a prince rat on the boat and eventually escapes and makes her way back to Africa in this story about growing up, listening to the world, and the difference between good and evil.

I would say (The Alchemist)+(The Little Prince)+(The Jungle Book)-(a lot of pages)=(The Warm Place). I liked it.

[Pandora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another missed review. I might have read it before I got on Goodreads. The thing I remeber I most from this book is the voice of the Girffie. She had such a sweet gentle voice. I also enjoyed the friendship of the animals. The book though is not completely light. Don't want to give anything away.

[Ccooke2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book follows animals captured and taken from their home or "the warm place" which is Africa. The story is about outsmarting captors in order to find freedom. From what I have read so far it is witty, funny and insightful. At the same time it seems somewhat dry but that is where some of its humor comes from.
Genre: comedy, fiction

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute little story about Ruva, a young giraffe, who was kidnapped from her African home and shipped to an American zoo. With the help of her friends--two rats, a chameleon, and a slave boy--she is able to find her way back to her home, "the warm place." But there are a lot of narrow escapes before she finally gets home.

[Cori Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was super imaginative and had a couple quirky things that just tickled the quirky side of my brain. I LOVED the giraffe POV, but didn’t LOVE the weird demon family. Without that, this would have been on my list of favorite books. If you have kiddos sensitive to dark elements and demony things, this might not be for them.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This gets 2 stars instead of 1 because I was compelled enough to read the ending, but only because the girls insisted. I was about to put it down. The main character is a whiny baby giraffe. Need I say more?

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love most of Nancy Farmer's books but this one was not as fun to read. Entire story is told from the view point of a young giraffe. It's more for younger children but they might have a hard time following it.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet chapter book - I picked this up when I was substituting in an ESL classroom recently. The starring giraffe is from Africa. She learns animal magic from a number of supporting animals. It all helps her as she makes her way back home.

[Kiera Beddes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: fantasy
Summary: This book is about a little giraffe that must get back to Africa, escaping evil demons on a metal ship.
Response: Very interesting read. It is short and a surprising mixture of animal magic, evil demons and snails. Odd, but Nancy Farmer makes it work.

[Renuka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A baby giraffe is captured by poachers from Central Africa and brought to a zoo in New York City. She finds a way to escape and make her way back home to find her mother. She makes some friends and gets help along the way. I liked the idea of the story but didn't find it to be too interesting.

[Blake · Rating 1 out of 5]

There’s not much I can say about his book. I know I should take the intended audience into consideration, but this book is terrible. It’s highly didactic, horribly cheesy, and the problems are overcome all too easy.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book. The story is magical in all the right ways, the characters are true to themselves, and it is just as long as it needs to be. The messages it carried were meaningful and touching, and altogether I felt warm and cozy when I finished it. A really beautiful book.

[Utah Boggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a chameleon, 2 rats, and a young female giraffe. The giraffe was the main character. It was awesome.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is kind of for kids younger than me, but the story was really cute and I liked it.