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THE BIRTHDAY ELEPHANT

Name: THE BIRTHDAY ELEPHANT
Author: Walter Williams
ISBN: 978-0989069861

by Walter Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015

Young children will enjoy this picture book’s unlikely story of can-do empowerment, dreams, and friendship, but its...

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In Williams’ (A Monster for Tea, 2013, etc.) offbeat picture book, an adventurous young pachyderm experiences numerous delights thanks to a kindhearted boy with a talent for construction.

In this flight of fancy, a young elephant tries to see what it’s like to sit on a chair (it breaks), ride a bicycle (it folds), sail on a boat (it sinks), and ride in a car (the axles break). When a boy speeds by on a bicycle, the elephant chases after him, and the youngster instantly grasps the animal’s dilemma: “You need someone to help you. To make things that are strong.” So he creates “durable devices that would not fold, break, or bend.” The results, including a car with tires that “would not pop,” are instant and successful. The author/illustrator’s depiction of the wide-eyed elephant in the redesigned car, with the boy looking on, is a highlight of the book. The story undergoes an abrupt tonal shift, though, after the boy and elephant ride and sail together and eventually return to their respective worlds. In the end, the nostalgic adult elephant sadly returns to the site where he and the boy first met, where readers find the “special boat” now “full of holes…a leg from the oversized chair…or perhaps part of the giant car.” Visually, Williams’ use of varied brush strokes and patterns is pleasing to the eye. However, his overall style of charcoal pencil and watercolor illustrations, as if rendered by a very young child, isn’t altogether successful; in particular, the boy’s overly crude rendering lacks the simple elephant shape’s unforced appeal. The title is also a puzzler, as the word “birthday” doesn’t appear anywhere in the text, nor is it a theme of the story.

Young children will enjoy this picture book’s unlikely story of can-do empowerment, dreams, and friendship, but its illustrations could have used some refinement.

Pub Date: March 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0989069861

Page Count: 38

Publisher: Fernwood & Hedges Books

Review Posted Online: June 11, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
A MONSTER FOR TEA
by Walter Williams

- BOOK REVIEW
The Bicycle Garden
written and illustrated by Walter Williams

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TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

by Josh Schneider & illustrated by Josh Schneider ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011

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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ULTRABOT'S FIRST PLAYDATE
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
KID AMAZING VS. THE BLOB
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYBODY SLEEPS (BUT NOT FRED)
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

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ABIYOYO RETURNS

by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

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The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)