Whale Watching: Elmer and the Whales by David McKee

ELMER, THE PATCHWORK ELEPHANT, AND HIS COUSIN WILBUR WERE VISITING GRANDPA ELDO.

"WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE," SAID GRANDPA ELDO, "AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR, I USED TO FOLLOW THE RIVER DOWN TO THE COAST AND WATCH THE THE WHALES COME BACK."

It's no sooner said than done. Elmer and Wilbur have to try out Grandpa's trip for themselves.

Jungle rivers don't have whales, of course, but they do have some big critters. Soon Elmer and Wilbur meet a gigantic crocodile with a great big smile, who suggests that they build a raft to float downstream. Some monkeys pitch in to help. No sooner do they finish their flatboat when they meet another huge beast, the hippo, who offers a push off into the current. All's well until the two hit the rapids.

"HOLD ON, ELMER!" SHOUTS WILBUR.

But the rapids end in a wide delta and soon the two voyagers discover that they are floating rapidly out to sea. Oh, no!

They came to see the sea, not GO TO SEA!

Grandpa Eldo forgot to warn them to take a sail, or at least a paddle. How will they get back home?

Luckily for the two clueless sailors, the whales they came to see see them first and obligingly provide a push back to shore, in David McKee's brand-new Elmer adventure, Elmer and the Whales (Elmer Books) (Lerner, 2014). Elmer's encounter with the leviathans, animals even bigger than elephants, has an intriguing ending when the whales remember that other patchwork elephant who used to come visit with them every year. As Elmer and Wilbur make their way back to Grandpa's place, they have a thought that might lead to another interesting adventure.

"I WONDER WHAT OTHER STORIES GRANDPA ELDO HASN'T TOLD US," SAID ELMER.

Double this one with the newest story in this long-running series, the just published Elmer and the Monster (Anderson Press, 2014).