Elephants Never Forget

February 25, 2008
Elephants never forget—but that doesn't mean they can't change. Ravishankar, who lives in India, writes lively verse about a young elephant who finds a new home with a herd of water buffalo (“With a buffalo calf/ He tumbled and wallowed./ The buffalo led/ And the elephant followed”). Her story is full of good read-aloud noises (“Toooot! Toooot! Toooot!/ The elephants called./ Belloow! Belloooow!/ The buffaloes bawled”) and moves with assurance toward a refreshing conclusion. Pieper (previously paired with Ravishankar for Alphabets Are Amazing Animals
) produces digital woodcuts that recall the work of Mary Azarian or Christopher Wormell, eschewing cuteness in favor of strength and clarity. A two-color scheme—black and periwinkle on cream-colored paper—and bold, simple spreads focus attention on the ponderous forms of the elephant and buffalo. Varied compositions as well as printed letters that grow and shrink and dance across the pages match the dexterity of the text with a visual sprightliness. Ages 4-8.

April 1, 2008
PreS-KIn somewhat forced rhyming text"Ccrrrack!/A coconut hit him on the head./Enough, thought the elephant, /And he fled"Ravishankar relates the story of a young elephant that is separated from his mother during a storm and carried along with some stampeding water buffalo, eventually becoming a useful and valued member of the herd. In the end, when he meets a group of welcoming elephants, he unrealistically chooses to remain with his water buffalo friends. The attractive, digitally created artwork, in black and periwinkle on cream, has the appearance of block prints. Text formatting varies greatly. On some spreads, storm or animal sounds, printed in a variety of sizes from large to immense, are successfully and strikingly incorporated into the illustration. On many others, the short, straight lines of awkwardly placed oversize text pull the eye away from the artwork. The narrative of this Indian import and the formatting of the text are no match for Pieper's well-conceived and well-executed pictures."Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2008
Yet another young creature discovers his true home. After a violent storm separates a young elephant from his herd, monkeys tease him: "Ccrrrack! / A coconut hit him on the head. / Enough, thought the elephant, / And he fled." But happily he's soon sporting with water buffalo -- and fleeing a tiger with them. As the elephant grows, he helps his new friends by showering them with water, picking leaves for them to eat, and even one day banishing the tiger with a mighty "TOOOT!" As in Tiger on a Tree (rev. 5/04), this Indian author's rhymed text captures the ear with its engaging lilt. Noisy words (the thunder's BOOM, the buffaloes' BELLLOOOW) are printed large, manipulated to dramatic effect, and integrated into digitally created illustrations that suggest woodcuts, their bold and craggy black and appropriately watery blue lending the story energy. Endpapers depicting a purposeful young elephant running alongside a herd of buffalo set the stage. And what is it that elephants don't forget? The title may well prompt discussion of why happy times with a compatible adopted family might, in the end, trump a hero's origins.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2008
A storm separates an elephant from his herd. Happily he's soon sporting with water buffalo. As in Tiger on a Tree, Ravishankar's rhymed text captures the ear with its engaging lilt. Noisy words (BOOM, BELLLOOOW) are printed large and integrated into digitally created illustrations that suggest woodcuts, their bold and craggy black and appropriately watery blue lending the story energy.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)