Elecopter review

Elecopter by Michael Slack

So what would happen if a helicopter and an elephant had a baby?  Elecopter of course.  And what does an Elecopter do?  Helps those in need.  From giving a haircut to a lion with her propeller to saving everyone from a fire. I have to admit I don't really understand the concept of an elephant helicopter but it is silly and fun.  And now I kind of want to read his Monkey Truck book even though the name is not as clever.  I think kids and Shipping Monkeys would like this odd little book.

A Parade of Elephants Review

A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes


The title pretty much says it all. Five very colorful elephants parade around.


The illustrations are very cute.  And I like the bold colors.  It makes the book eye-catching and fun to look at.  The fact that the font is also big and bold and there are only a few words on each page make it easier for children to follow along and associate the way a word looks with the way it sounds.  And I have to admit I was surprised to find out that right before elephants go to sleep they blow stars out of their trunks all over the night sky.  I guess it's true, you learn something new every day. 

Pete & Pickles

Pete & Pickles by Berkeley Breathed

Pete is a perfectly practical and predictable pig.  Then Pickles the elephant comes and changes all of that.  And Pete isn't sure he likes it.

Like all of Berkeley Breathed's work the story is rather odd.  And the pictures are a little creepy.  And even though it is a picture book I'm not sure it is good for children.  But I like it.  In the end it is a beautiful story of love and friendship.  A slightly disturbing story of love and friendship, sure, but still heartwarming in the end.  It is different from any other story of love and friendship you are likely to come across but it still shows you the beauty of those things and how you can find them in the most unlikely of places, and with the most unlikely of people.  I don't think you will be sorry if you give it a try.  Although, even though I think it is perfect for Shipping Monkeys, I will warn you that it is not for everyone.

My Friend Maggie Review

My Friend Maggie by Hannah E. Harrison

The illustrations are bright and cheerful and the animals all have a lot of character and expression so they add a lot of fun to the book.  The story is about Paula the Beaver and her friend Maggie the Elephant.  Paula thinks Maggie is the best until other kids start making fun of Maggie.  Paula has to choose between fitting in or sticking by her friend.  In the end Maggie shows Paula what true friendship is all about.  It's a sweet story and I think kids will be able to relate to both Maggie and Paula.  (Although hopefully not to the mean little dog, Veronica, who acts exactly like what she is.) The only part I don't like it that Paula acts like being called Bucky is a bad thing.  That's no goody.

Pete With No Pants Review

Pete with no Pants by Rowboat Watkins

Pete is on a quest to find out who he is.  And for some reason he does not want to wear pants while he does it.  He is grey and big and not wearing pants so that makes him...?  Well, that is what he is trying to find out.  But when he say 'knock knock' no one ever answers.  The pictures are cute and the story is fun but I can not explain why he does not want to wear pants or why he runs around trying to tell a knock knock joke to everything and everyone.  Maybe that's the best part.  It doesn't really make sense.  Well, that and the fact that it is written by someone named Rowboat, which is cool too. 

Tweak Tweak Review

Tweak Tweak by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier

Little Elephant has a lot of questions for his mother about what little elephants can do.

Little Elephant goes on a walk with his mother and is told to tweak her tail twice every time he has a question.  As they go along Little Elephant sees other animals doing all sorts of things like jumping, swimming and flying and Little Elephant wants to know if he can do those things too.  Mama Elephant answers all his questions and makes sure that when she tells him there is something he can't do she tells him something just as good that he can do.  It's a good story about people being different and having different skills, and being happy about the things you can do instead of upset about the things you can't.  (I have to admit that the toes on Little Elephant creep me out a little.  I don't know why.  They just don't look right.)  It's a sweet story about growing and learning and a mother encouraging her son.  But in true Monkey fashion we turned it into something else entirely.  Of course the elephant pictures were a hit but everyone's favorite page was the frog giving Little Elephant the finger.  He's like 'get out of here Little Elephant, jumping is our thing.'  Which is completely rude and so something a Shipping Monkey would say.

F*** off, Little Elephant

Saggy Baggy Elephant Review

The Saggy Baggy Elephant by Tennant Redbank  illustrated by Garva Hathi

Sooki the elephant tries everything to get rid of his saggy baggy skin until he learns that he doesn't have to.


The story is simple and good for beginning readers.  The pictures are cute and bright.  And there is a good message here that you should not feel the need to change who you are to meet someone else's idea of who you should be.  There is also a lesson here that the Monkeys, just like Sooki, have all learned.  Keep moving until you find people just like you, because people who are different will never accept you.  That's how we all ended up together.  And although it has worked out pretty well for us (and quite frankly everyone else too since they don't have to deal with us) I'm not sure it's quite the lesson you want to be teaching your young impressionable children.  So if you read this classic story to your children just make sure they are getting the message you intended them to get.

Monkey and Elephant review

Monkey and Elephant by Carole Lexa Schaefer,  illustrated by Galia Bernstein

Monkey and Elephant set out to find shade on a very hot day in the jungle.  Along the way they disagree about many things but find a way to remain friends.


As the good friends, Monkey and Elephant set out they start to annoy each other and then the complaints start.  One goes too slow, the other too fast, one is too cranky the other too bossy.  As the journey continues the friends find a way to work through their differences.  It is a nice example of how even people who are completely different from each other can still be friends.  (They remind me of Bee Hee and Henry, whose friendship is very special even though they could not be more different.)  And how those differences can even make the friendship better when they use those differences to help each other out.  Even when circumstances (like the heat, and just ask any of the Monkeys about how the heat can stress a friendship when I am the one who is hot) makes them annoyed with each other and they cannot agree about things they are still friends.  The illustrations are bold and bright.  It is great how expressive Elephant's eyes are.  The text is good for beginning readers and will probably introduces them to new words and help expand their vocabulary.  And words like spunky, riffraff, and galump make it fun to read about these two friends.

Big City Otto Review

Big City Otto (Elephants Never Forget 1) written by Bill Slavin with Esperanca Melo, art by Bill Slavin

(from the back of the book)
It's said that elephants never forget, and Otto is no exception.  He just can't stop thinking about his long lost friend Georgie, a chimp snatched from the jungle by the mysterious Man with the Wooden Nose.  So with the help of his parrot pal, Crackers, Otto sets off for America in search of his childhood chum.  But from the moment this unlikely pair tumbles out of the baggage claim at a big city airport, trouble seems to be all these two manage to find...

It's fun.  There are some predictable jokes about how Otto breaks things without meaning to, or misunderstands something because he has never been in a city before.  And there are the running jokes about how he is self-conscience of his size and allergic to peanuts.  But the story is goofy and silly and meant to be so, so the jokes are still cute, and to a young audience they will be even funnier than they were to me.  The illustrations and bright and fun.  And by the end of the book you are worried about Georgie, sad for Otto, and attached to Crackers for sticking with his friend through all the trouble they get into.  You want to find out what happens to everyone so you will more than likely go and get the next book.  And the best sign of a good story is when you want to keep reading even when the book is over.

My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World Book Review

My Cat, The Silliest Cat in the World written and illustrated by Gilles Bachelet

An owner tells you all about his very strange cat that happens to look a lot like an elephant

I’m not a huge fan of the illustrations. In fact, I think the elephant is actually ugly.  But it is still the pictures that make the story, as they should in any good picture book.  The owner of this strange ‘cat’ describes his behavior as you see him perform perfectly ordinary cat activities.  So you see his ‘cat’ sleeping on top of the TV (Remember when TVs were deep enough for cats to do that?), licking himself clean, and using the litter box (this, of course, is the Monkeys’ favorite page.) All while the owner in completely convinced that this huge grey animal with a trunk is a cat.  It’s sure to get giggles from most kids.  It sure got a lot of laughs from the Monkey.  And if you ever want to know what an 8-year-old will think of a book, just hand it to us.

Book Review

This is the first in what I hope will be a series of elephant book reviews.  As in reviews of books about elephants not book reviews written by an elephant.  Although, if I could work that out I would definitely blog those too.

The first book to be reviewed is:

Rudyard Kipling's How the Elephant Got His Trunk: The Graphic Novel by Blake A. Hoena (author) and Pedro Rodriguez (illustrator)

This is the story of how an inquisitive baby elephant went from having a nose like a boot to having the trunk that we all know today.  This retelling of the classic tale is pretty faithful to the original.  It has all the adults who discourage the baby elephant from being curious which leads to his trip to find answers which leads to his fateful meeting with the crocodile.  It leaves out all the revenge spanking that the baby does when he gets home that Kipling put in, but it hints at it, and the rest of the story is very close to Kipling's.  It has cute, fun illustrations that would make it fun for kids and even has a little dictionary in the back for some of the harder words like curiosity and insatiable.  (Which makes it just about the perfect level for the Monkeys.)  It also includes the poem about the honest serving-men what, where, when, how, why and who.  It would be a good introduction to Kipling for young readers that might inspire them to read the original stories.