Big at the Box Office: Ellie by Mike Wu

ELLIE WAS JUST FINISHING HER LUNCH.

THE ZOOKEEPER CAME BY WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT.

"IT'S A SAD DAY. THE ZOO IS CLOSING."

"THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WE CAN DO," ELLIE SAID TO HER FRIENDS. "THE ZOO IS OUR HOME."

The zoo IS rundown and shabby. Clever Gerard the ape calls the others together, and they make a plan to help the zoo attract more visitors. Lucy the Giraffe prunes the overgrown trees by grazing on them for her dinner. Gerard moves rocks around to make the pathways more scenic, and the energetic monkeys scrub and sweep and spruce up the exhibit areas.

"WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?" WONDERED LITTLE ELLIE.

Then a spot of color catches her eye. Good old Walt is helping the animals by giving things a fresh coat of bright paint. And when he takes a break, Ellie picks up Walt's paintbrush to see if she can help.

ELLIE ADDED COLOR HERE... AND A RAINBOW THERE...

ELLIE PAINTED ALL HER FRIENDS.

ELLIE THE ARTIST!

Ellie fills the freshly painted walls with murals of the zoo animals and visitors, and soon she becomes a media darling. The turnstiles at the zoo just keep turning as more and more people buy tickets and come in to enjoy watching the artist and her models at work, guided by Gerard the gorilla in his new role as zoo guide.

In his first picture book effort, Ellie (Hyperion Books, 2015), Mike Wu's plotline is a fairly predictable picture book save-the-day plot, but his gentle retro-styled illustrations take on a life of their own as his zoo comes alive with color and movement. Wu, an illustrator who has worked for Pixar on some of their animated hits--Ratatouie, The Incredibles, Up and Toy Story 3,--definitely knows how to design a story that flows from page to page as film rolls from frame to frame, and the story of the young heroine whose pluck and talent make her the star of the show is always a crowd pleaser and a winner at the box office. Kirkus' reviewer also takes keen notice of the cinematographic roots of Wu's artwork, saying "Like Dorothy arriving in Oz, the world changes when the paint hits the walls."

Family Is Forever: Always by Emma Dodd

SOMETIMES YOU'RE GOOD.

SOMETIMES YOU'RE BAD!

No little child is always perfect. They may be happy, sad, brave, or maybe misbehave They may get dirty or get clean; they might be thoughtful, or even mean!

But no matter what they are, Mom and Dad are always there to provide a big hug and plenty of love.

In what is perhaps Emma Dodd's most beautiful picture book, the new American edition of Always (Emma Dodd's Love You Books) (Templar Books, 2014), her simple rhyming quatrains show all the ways a little one sometimes can be, simple language that very young children can grasp. But it is in her illustrations that Dodd's premise shines forth, Dodd's up-close and personal African mother and baby move through the savannah scene in spare black line and stunning sky scenes, midnight blue sky setting off silver-foil, showing the plains and river, as mother and child swim and play in the sands. Baby gets dirty in the mudhole, is frightened by a mouse, and and recycles the fright by prankishly scaring a flamingo into flight, with mom always there to provide words of guidance and a guiding trunk. A perfect bedtime book for parent and child to share with a big hug.

Isle of Golden Dreams: Babar on Paradise Island by Laurent de Brunhoff

BABAR AND CELESTE WITH THEIR FAMILY AND THEIR FRIEND, THE OLD LADY, LEFT THE CELESTVILLE MARINA FOR A DAY ON THE WATER.

Their boat might have very well been named "The Minnow," because the group has hardly settled down to enjoy their "three-hour tour" when a huge storm blows in and wrecks their ship just off the shore of a seemingly deserted island.

But the elephants easily walk ashore, Babar with the Old Lady riding high and dry on his back, and find this island quite to their taste. It has yellow sandy beaches, tropical flora, and frondy palm trees all around.

While the rest of the family relaxes near the beach, Babar sets out to explore the island's interior and discovers it is not, as he thought, uninhabited. He meets a very large creature that looks a bit familiar!

A DRAGON!

But this dragon is lonely for company and pitches in with Babar to help build shelters and find water and foodstuffs to make the castaways comfortable while they wait for rescue. And unlike those hapless survivors of The Minnow (who, after all, had a lot of air time to fill) Babar and Celeste soon hear the cheerful "chop chop" of the rescue 'copter to take them home, leaving their new dragon friend waving fondly from his own Paradise.

Laurent de Brunhoff carries on the family tradition in his latest, the shipwreck and rescue adventure of King Babar, Babar on Paradise Island (Abrams, 2014). All the charming and familiar elements of de Brunhoff's father, Jean de Brunhoff's classic stories are there--big, round, well-dressed gray elephants in a gentle outdoor adventure and a simple reassuring conclusion in the company of a close-knit extended family. As Kirkus Reviews jokes, "de Brunhoff's too smart to mess with a successful formula. Familiarity here breeds contentment."

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).

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).

The Elephant in the Room: Hiding Phil by Eric Barclay

"LOOK! AN ELEPHANT!"

Three kids meet up with an elephant stranded at the bus stop and invite him to join them at the playground.  With his tiny hat secure on his head, the pachyderm and the kids have a blast on the slides and see-saw, and Phil even offers his long trunk for a jump rope. The kids can't bear to say goodbye to their new buddy.

"MOM AND DAD WILL LOVE PHIL!" the girl gushes.

Suddenly logic rears its party-pooping old head.

Um, No. They won't. Obviously, Phil won't fit in their house.

But the kids are hopeful.  Maybe they can sneak Phil by, under their parents' radar. But how do you hide an elephant?

The oldest boy tries hiding Phil under the dog house.

It looks like a red-roofed football helmet on Phil, and what's more, it's stuck!

By the time Phil is free, the dog house is a pile of splinters. But the kids haven't given up yet. They rake up a pile of autumn leaves deep enough to conceal all of Phil except his fedora. But the leaves give Phil a sneeze. KER-CHOOOO!

The leaves leave in the breeze from that big sneeze, but the kids have another inspiration. Throwing an enormous tarp over Phil, they paint a door and two windows on the front and write "CLUBHOUSE" over the door. This trick can't miss. Hopefully, they invite Mom and Dad to view their new backyard hangout.

"UM... IS THAT AN ELEPHANT?" says Mom.

Busted.

That eternal plea of kids, "Can we keep him?" no matter what sort of critter they bring home, provides the premise for Eric Barclay's hilarious story of a mission impossible, Hiding Phil (Scholastic, 2013). Barclay utilizes a minimum of simple but telling text in this story, and his retro comic characters (somewhat reminiscent of the popular cartoon "The Family Circus") and his happy use of visual jokes tell the story with a bit of pathos, plenty of wit, and an empathetic ending.  Hiding Phil is a honey of a kid pleaser, great for read-aloud times or for self-reading for beginners. "Prepare yourself for a "trunkload" of fun," quips Children's Literature.

Home: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. I used to be a wild gorilla, and I still look the part.

It's not as easy as it looks.

People call me the Freeway Gorilla. The Ape at Exit 8. The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback.

I have learned to understand human words over the years, but understanding human speech is not the same as understanding humans.

Ivan is alone in his domain, a glass-enclosed area in The Big Top Mall, his only outlet to the world a small break in the glass through which Julia passes him paper and crayons. Sometimes he eats them, but more often he uses them to create art like Julia has taught him. Ivan is an exhibit, but he is also an valued employee of the mall.  Mack the owner sells his art in the Big Top gift shop for twenty dollars,  twenty-five, framed.

Julia is the daughter of the night custodian, a girl who does her homework while her father works,  and who teaches Ivan how to do art  while her father cleans.  Julia is Ivan's friend, like Stella, the old lame elephant who performs circus tricks, three shows a day, and Bob, a stray dog who slips in to sleep on Ivan's big, warm  belly.

But things are not good at the Big Top Mall.  Business is bad, and people seem to have tired of watching Ivan eat and draw and Stella stand on one foot, not to mention  the baseball-playing chicken and the talking macaw.  Mack is worried about  paying the  bills, grumbling about how much Ivan and Stella eat.

Then Mack finds a new attraction, a cheap baby elephant named Ruby.   Ruby is small and cute, and when her picture is painted on the fading billboard by the highway where Ivan has roared for 27 years, new people begin to come to watch her and Stella, both of them happy to be with another elephant.  But when Mack tries to make Ruby learn old Stella's tricks, she refuses.  Desperate, Mack brings out The Claw, a long pole with a curved blade that pricks and rips Ruby's hide, and Ruby gives in, but the light seems to leave her eyes.

"Ivan?" Stella says in a hoarse whisper. "Ivan?"

"I'm here, Stella," I sit up abruptly. I run to a window. I can see Ruby next to Stella, sleeping.

"Ivan, I want you to promise me something," Stella says "I've never asked for a promise before because promises are forever. Especially when you're in a cage."

"Domain," I correct.

Stella doesn't say anything for a long time. "Domain," she agrees. "Never mind. I don't know what I was thinking. The pain is making me addled."

"You want me to take care of Ruby."

Stella nods, a small gesture that makes her wince. "If she could have a life that's ... different from mine. She needs a safe place, Ivan."

"Not here," I say.  "I promise, Stella, on my honor as a silverback."

Then Stella dies of the infection in her lame foot, and Ivan knows he must do something to keep his promise, something to get them all to that better place that Julia has told him about-- a zoo, the Place Where Humans Make Amends.

And when Julia gives him her old finger paints, Ivan has an idea. If he can create a huge mural of the mall animals together in a place of trees and open spaces, a place called HOME, one like the time and place he  remembers before he was captured, perhaps the people will understand where all the animals should be. It will be his Magnum Opus, one that perhaps will save them all. Ivan begins to paint.

Awarded the 2013 Newbery Award, Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins, 2013) brings home to the reader the loneliness and alienation of captive animals kept in places like the Big Top Mall, away from others of their kind, caged in a world of cement, metal, and glass. Applegate's vivid portrayal of the inner life of captive animals is so insightful and moving that even the youngest readers will empathize with her characters and like Julia, the reader's alter ego, will understand Ivan's longings to return to something like the life for which he was born. As Kirkus Reviews says, "Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author's note identifying the real-life Ivan, will inspire a new generation of advocates."

Pack Your Trunks! That's Not My Elephant by Fiona Watt

. . .ITS TRUNK IS TOO LEATHERY.

A welcome addition to Usborne's beloved Touchy Feely Books series, That's Not My Elephant-- follows the familiar format as a set of little fingers try out the pictured elephant for certain features. The first elephant's skin isn't just right; his large feet are too scritchy-scratchy, and his toenails are too lumpy-bumpy. Even his tufted tail is just too much of a good thing!

Will the next elephant have the right stuff? Let's check out his tusk!

Author Fiona Watt and illustrator/designer Rachel Wells bring us another winning tactile board book for babies. If your little one is looking for just the right elephant, bring That's Not My Elephant-- home for an instant adoption.

Blowing Your Own Horn! Listen to My Trumpet! by Mo Willems

LISTEN... GERALD!

I HAVE A TRUMPET!"

Piggie plunks down a little three-legged stool for her friend Gerald the Elephant. Gerald is not sure what to expect from his exuberant friend. A trumpet? Piggie plays a trumpet? It's news to him.

KL-ACK! GR-ELP! GR-ICK!

"YIKES!" Gerald involuntarily yelps. Piggie can't play the trumpet! This is awful! What in the world can he say to his best friend, eagerly waiting for his reaction?

Piggie redoubles her efforts to impress her consternated friend.

"Blap- BLONK!"

Gerald is speechless. His best friend is waiting for his approval, but how can he give it when her notes are so unspeakably painful? He decides to open by accentuating the positive.

"YOUR TRUMPET IS SHINY!" HE OFFERS.

"AND....?" PIGGY ASKS.

Gerald struggles with his conscience. Finally he decides to tell his friend the truth, however unpleasant.

BUT THAT WAS NOT MUSIC!"

Gerald waits fearfully for his friend's reaction. Will she cry! Get angry? All his fears play across Gerald's face as Piggie just stares at him, a bit baffled.

"I AM TRYING TO SPEAK ELEPHANT." SHE POINTS OUT PATIENTLY.

Oh. That's different.

Mo Willems' latest in his award-winning early reader books, Listen to My Trumpet! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hyperion, 2012), continues this deservedly best-selling series, combining easy vocabulary, irresistible characterizations done in seemingly simple line drawings, surprise endings, and thoughtful insights into the nature of friendship between these unlikely comrades. Elephant and Piggie rock and rule!

Oinks R Us! Happy Pig Day! by Mo Willems

Piggy has an announcement for best friend Gerald the elephant.

No, it's not her birthday. It's. . . Happy Pig Day!

"I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT HAPPY PIG DAY," Gerald muses.

But Piggy insists it's the best day of the year for pig games and pig dancing, and as if to prove her point, she points off-page where we "hear" loud voices shouting "OINKY OINK OINK!"

Three pink pigs enter, stage, er, page right, dancing lightly on their trotters and smiling broadly--a big pig, a middle-sized pig, and very small pig--who proceed to put on quite a show of swine celebration, forming a pig pyramid, engaging in an impromptu pig toss, and cavorting all over the double-page spreads. Oinky Oinks are chanted soulfully. Piggie is in her element until....

...she notices Gerald is no longer in sight.

"GERALD?"

Piggie takes a peek off-page. Gerald is sitting sadly alone. Piggie has to know what is going on with her friend.

"ARE YOU OK?" SHE ASKS SOFTLY.

"I AM SORRY, PIGGIE," SAYS GERALD SORROWFULLY.

"I HAVE A TRUNK.

I AM GRAY.

I DO NOT HAVE A SNOUT!.

I DO NOT BELONG!"

But Piggie and her compatriot pigs have a surprise for Gerald. The three pink pigs quickly pull off their full-head masks, revealing underneath--a mouse, a cat, and a bear in costume--pigs on purpose!

"HAPPY PIG DAY IS FOR . . . . EVERYONE WHO LOVES PIGS!"

And with that happy revelation, Gerald is back in the thick of the celebration, joining not a clique, but an open group, in Mo Willems' latest easy reader, Happy Pig Day! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hyperion, 2011). Willems' brand-new entry in his Elephant and Piggie series has all the right stuff--glowing and individuated characters whose faces and body language practically tell the story by themselves, set against bright white, uncluttered pages, speech balloons as well as simple text, a use of fontal design elements which add to the fun, and a sweet, empathetic story which gently shows how exclusionism based on superficialities can threaten a friendship. A delightful choice for any early emergent reader.

Ask Your Mother: Tweak Tweak by Eve Bunting

"Hold onto my tail, Little Elephant," Mama Elephant said. "Today we are going for a walk. If you want to ask me a question, tweak twice."

Brave words for Mama Elephant or for any mother of an inquisitive youngster. The tweaks come fast and keep on coming as the two walk.

"Mama? What is that?"

"That is a beautiful butterfly flying high in the sky."

"Can I fly high in the sky?"

Like all youngsters, Little Elephant wants to try everything she sees. Patiently, Mama explains that little elephants can't exactly float like a butterfly, climb trees like monkeys, jump over a pond like frogs, swim down the river with a crocodile, or sing like a songbird in a fig tree. But little elephants can swish their ears and make a breeze, stomp their feet like thunder, cool down with a whoosh of river water from their trunks, and trumpet with a powerful roar. And best of all, she tells Little Elephant...

"You can grow up to be a big, strong, smart, beautiful elephant."

"Like you, Mama?"

"Yes, just like me."

With that way she has of capturing a small but significant moment between her characters, in her forthcoming Tweak Tweak (Clarion, 2011) Eve Bunting has nailed the essence of parenting here, as Mama helps her youngster understand the world and her place in it with grace and a certain elegance of phrase. Sergio Ruzzier's softly stylized pastel illustrations capture just the right balance of charm and humor to help earn this soon-to-be-published little gem a coveted starred review from Horn Book.

Where There's a Will(ems)....: Can I Play, Too? by Mo Willems

Gerald the elephant and his sidekick Piggie are all set to play catch, until they get a puzzling request from a passerby:

"EXCUSE ME," SAYS A LITTLE GREEN SNAKE. "CAN I PLAY TOO?"

Piggie and Gerald are consternated, exchanging bewildered looks.

Snake is hurt at their hesitancy.

"YOU DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH ME?"

The two friends are even more bemused. Finally, Piggie patiently explains that they are just about to play catch, and for that you need, well ... ARMS!

No ARMS?" snake replies in mock dismay.

"HEE HEE! HA HA! HEE HEE! HA HA!

I'M A SNAKE! I KNOW I DON'T HAVE ARMS!"

"YOU ARE A FUNNY SNAKE," SAYS PIGGIE.

Gerald and Piggie relax, happy that they are not guilty of being politically incorrect by mentioning a delicate subject, and Snake insists that he get a try-out for the catch team. But all of the experiments--with one ball, with Piggie and Gerald each pitching, and with all the balls they can come up with simultaneously--end with Snake getting bonked on the head. Snake hangs his head, realizing that he really can't play this game their way.

But then Piggie, true to the ideal of friendship, comes through with an alternative plan.

"WE WILL ALL PLAY CATCH!" SHE DECLARES.

And she is right. Gerald pitches Snake and Piggie catches him. Everyone plays and Snake has... a ball!

The multiple-award winning Mo Willems proves once more that his well of sly and wry sophisticated wit hasn't run dry in this recent addition to his lauded early reader series Elephant and Piggie with Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hyperion, 2010). What can you say about these books that hasn't already been said? The text is so accessible and yet so meaningful, and the illustrations, simple-lined cartoons in a primary palette, are so subtly expressive of human emotion that even adults find them subtly humorous. No emergent reader should miss this newest Elephant and Piggie easy reader.

Take Me Witcha When You Go! I Am Going! by Mo Willems

"WELL, I AM GOING."

It is a good day, just like the day before, a perfect day for two friends to hang out, until the playful Piggie messes with her nervous friend Gerald the Elephant's mind by announcing, after a glance at her watch, that she is leaving.

"YOU CANNOT GO!" says Gerald, appalled. "YOU MUST NOT GO! WHAT ABOUT ME?"

Gerald clutches the poker-faced Piggie in his arms and agonizes over who he will have to wear silly hats with and play ball with and skip with. Piggie pops out of Gerald's arms and resolutely saunters off.

LOOK AT ME GO!

Mo Willems continues to amaze and delight young readers and adult fans with his ability to infuse his simple line drawings and simple text with amazing shadings of emotional meaning. Piggie loves her friend, but can't help seeking a little space while she playfully pulls the rather histrionic Gerald's chain in his latest in the Geisel Award-winning beginning reader series, Elephant and Piggie, I Am Going! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hyperion, 2010).

Not to worry, though, because the empathetic Piggie soon reveals that, after all, it is her lunch time, and her face clearly shows that even best friends have to have a lunch break. Of course, Gerald winsomely invites himself along to share Piggie's ample picnic hamper.

"This is a good day," sighs Gerald happily.

The expressions on the two best friends' faces are pure Willems' genius, as this installment, like all its predecessors in this wonderful series, again manages to hit the mark perfectly for emergent readers.

Ah Choo for Two! Pigs Make Me Sneeze by Mo Willems

aa-CHOOO!

--sneezing.

OH, NO!

Gerald the elephant can't stop sneezing all over his friend Piggie. These serial sneezes can only mean one thing--Gerald must be allergic to his best friend!

With the consequences of that fate too terrible to contemplate, Gerald takes himself off to Dr. Cat for a more definitive diagnosis. Alas, apparently cats make him sneeze, too, even if one of them is his personal physician. But wait! Allergies aren't the only cause of sneezes! Dr. Cat finds that his diagnosis--the common cold--is strangely welcome, and Elephant hurries back to tell his friend that it's all right to visit with him after all, only to find that Piggie is sneezing, too.

Yep! It appears Gerald shared his cold with Piggie, just like good friends do!

Comedy is full of comical odd couples, one dour, conscientious, and methodical, the other carefree, impulsive, and inventive--think Oscar and Felix, Frog and Toad, Desi and Lucy--and Mo Willems' similar characters, Elephant and Piggie, have surely kept their creator busy concocting their new adventures. In Willems' latest, Pigs Make Me Sneeze! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), (Hyperion, 2009) Gerald's sneezes keep bowling little Piggie over, and in his lauded beginning reader series, Elephant and Piggie, Mo Willems keeps bowling over reviewers and young readers alike. Simple but expressive illustrations and a brief text which expresses a world of meaning in few words make these early readers worthy inheritors of the Dr. Seuss tradition.

Forthcoming soon are two more entries from Willems: just out in late January is his I Am Going! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) and in June Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) to add to this highly collectible set.

Author/illustrator Willems, the recipient of both a Caldecott Honor Award for his Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Theodore Seuss Geisel Awards for books in the Elephant and Piggy series, is also known for his delightful and best-selling Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity.

Best Buddies: Tarra and Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends by Carol Buckley

Meet Tarra the elephant and Bella the dog who won her heart.

Whatever attracted the elephant and dog to each other remains a mystery, but one thing is sure--Tarra and Bella are truly forever friends.

An ex-rollerskating circus elephant and a shaggy mutt seem like an odd couple, but it was a case of love at first sight for these two.

Bella had been retired from show business to become the first resident of Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, a private park which provides meadows and woodlands for elephants emeritus. As other elephants were added to the herd, Bella seemed to take on the welcome wagon role, showing the newbies around barns, pastures, watering holes, and trails, but as the others paired off with each other for company, Tarra remained without a preferred companion.

That is, until one morning when Tarra awoke to find that she had a bed buddy--a shaggy gold and white dog sleeping right next to her. Unexpectedly, she touched the dog gently with her trunk and chirped a welcome, and an unlikely friendship was born. From that day the elephant and the dog, whom the staff named Bella, did everything together: they ate and walked and swam and even played hide and seek in the grass together.

Tarra even came to her friend's rescue one morning when she found Bella lying hurt in a shallow ditch surrounded by tall grass. The big elephant stood watch until the sanctuary staff noticed her anxiety and came to take Bella for medical assistance. Bella's big buddy remained by that spot all day, but when the caretakers did not bring her friend back, Tarra intuitively headed for the barn where Bella was resting after treatment. She returned there to visit her partner daily until at last the dog was well enough to be allowed out and around to resume their daily routines again.

Carol Buckley's Tarra & Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009) is filled with appealing color photos of this unlikely pair of forever friends. Other books which feature unusual bondings between intelligent animals include Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, the story of the unlikely bond between an orphaned baby hippo and a 130-year-old giant tortoise and its sequels, (see my earlier posted review here) and Koko's Kitten (Reading Rainbow Book), the equally amazing story of the sign-language-trained gorilla and the homeless striped kitten who became her best friend.