Up and Away! Elecopter by Michael Slack

HERE SHE COMES TO SAVE THE DAY!

ELECOPTER IS ON THE WAY!

Sorry! Wrong theme song. But if the tune fits, wear it, and Elecopter, the latest hybrid rescuer created by Michael Slack, is a robo-morphed elephant fitted out with 'copter rotors and skids on her feet, the better to protect and serve the animals of the preserve.

SHE SCANS THE SAVANNAH FROM HIGH ABOVE,

PATROLLING THE SKY, IT'S A LABOR OF LOVE!

And there's a lot of rescuing to be done! A rhino has to airlifted from a ravine! She has to drop her ladder to a marooned cheetah and a stranded baboon! And then there's that too-tall giraffe, surrounded by some hungry hyenas.

REV THOSE ROTORS! GO, ELECOPTER!

Preschoolers who like to think that help is always at hand will love cute blue Elecopter, who zooms to the rescue of hapless animals. Michael Slack has as much fun as a barrel full of monkeys with the digital illustrations for this jolly picture book, even using a vertical two-page spread to fit in the rescue of the long-necked giraffe, while a sudden forest fire is duly doused with a super spray from Ellie's handy hose nose, all in in Slack's community helper contraption series, Elecopter (Henry Holt, 2013). Publishers Weekly points out that this book is like a Little Golden Book on steroids, and the New York Times says, "Fierce in the face of danger and always kind, this motherly elephant gives parenting a good name."

This one pairs perfectly (and inevitably) with Slack's previously published Monkey Truck (Christy Ottaviano Books).