Illustrated by Christine Piepe
Rating: Additional
Houghton Mifflin, 2008, $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-618-99784-8
Age/Grade Level: Preschool-1st grade
After a rainstorm, Elephant finds he is all alone in the jungle. After escaping some mean monkeys, Elephant joins a herd of buffalo and is fitting in just fine, even though he doesn’t look or sound like a buffalo. When Elephant is reunited with an elephant herd, he decides to stay with the buffalo where he belongs. Blue, black and white pen-drawn illsutrations tell the story with creativly placed text (sideways during a loud thunderstrom, wavy in the water, mixed text sizes in single words). Though a sweet story of finding where one belongs, the theme and plot don't really match the text. The story is told in short rhyming sentences so there is not much room for development as to why the elephant was left behind, why the monkeys are mean to him, why the buffalo take him in or why he choses to stay. The end almost comes too soon. The jungle placement and illsutration style seem to make the book look like a folktale but there is no author's note that this is the case. Perhaps I am thinking it out too hard, but I think it would have done better as an older child's book, with less white space and no rhyme. As a side note: the title doesn’t seem to really match, there is no mention of remembering or forgetting anything (perhaps it is because he "remembers" that he likes being with the buffalo?). Applicable for patient children at storytime or one-on-one sharing.
Reviewer: Jacqueline Barry, Orange County Public Library/Villa Park Branch
