Variations on a Theme: Elephants

Recently themes keep emerging in my mind - books about animals, books about school, books about emotions, books about transportation.  So I thought perhaps I should do some posts about these themes as they emerge.

So let's begin with our sweet, not-so-little, pachyderm friend, the elephant.

Whenever you are talking about animals, I immediately think of the wonderful Let's Go to the Zoo series from the Smithsonian.  They have one called Elephant and Mommy, in which the elephants romp about, eat, get clean, and other lovely everyday elephant activities.  It's cute, it's photographic which I like for babies who seem to sometimes get confused by illustration styles, and they are very simple.

But recently our local library did a special section featuring elephants.  We have now read so many cute books for toddler/preschool aged children about elephants!

My daughter and husband after only a few days with a particular elephant book have started a daily call-and-response about a small elephant named Kai-Mook.

It's got nice onomatopoeia, a sweet story, and I think is meant to be a gift book, but it is quite fun.  There is one very odd illustration where the monkey in the story has grabbed the baby elephant's bottom.  I probably read the book 5 times before I noticed it, but now I keep thinking "uhhhhhh, what the ????"

Another sweet story about a small elephant is Kidogo.  Kidogo means little or "a little bit" in Swahili.  In the story the elephant goes on a quest to find an animal smaller than he is.  It has a nice empowering theme, it has a very sweet ending, and for every way that Kai Mook seems a bit bratty, Kidogo seems sweet!

Of course there are other wonderful books about elephants too... the Dr. Seuss classic, Horton Hears a Who, the Elephant and Piggie series by my pal Mo Willems, and for you adults... Water for Elephants wasn't too bad either (although I wasn't a fan of the ending).

Go forth, swing your trunk, trumpet your voice, and enjoy some books with your wee one about these not-so-wee friends.

Stay tuned for more themes!