The Elephant's Child

Because of his "'satiable curtiosity" about what the crocodile has for dinner, the elephant's child and all elephants thereafter have long trunks

Grade 1-5-The complete text of Kipling's classic story is illustrated with a dozen stylish but murky paintings all monotonously presented on the right-hand page. The main character is depicted in part-a trunk here, a backside there-and in muted and subdued colors that draw the eye, if only to identify what is going on. As decorations rather than revelations, these paintings may free listeners to imagine their own pictures. However, for literal-minded children, Lorinda Bryan Cauley's illustrations (Harcourt, 1983) or Emily Bolam's fresh pictures for the truncated version (Dutton, 1992) are still better bets.
Susan Hepler, Alexandria City Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.