WHERE CAN AN ELEPHANT HIDE?

by David McPhail ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 12, 1980

In a more conventional camouflage lesson than Aruego's (above), all the animals prepare to hide from the hunters, but the elephant doesn't know how. A tiger suggests lying down in the grass, a monkey suggests climbing a tree, a turtle suggests hunching up in order to pass as a stone, and so on. Even the ostrich suggests that the elephant bury his head in the sand, but the other animals point out that ""It doesn't work anyway, you silly ostrich."" Of course none of the methods works for the elephant, but then a bird tells him to hide underwater and put out his trunk for air. Why the bird would know this trick and the elephant wouldn't remains a mystery--and though McPhail ends with a little joke (the canoeing hunters mistake the elephant's sneeze for that of the bird who is perched on its trunk), the whole exercise is strained.

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1980

Categories: CHILDREN'S