Ella's counting the days until the first day of school ... but not because she's eager to start! On the contrary, as the littlest elephant on Elephant Island, she's terribly nervous about the other kids she'll meet. Then she receives a beautiful red hat that belonged to her grandmother — her new lucky charm. Big mean Belinda at school teases her for it, calling her "Ella the Elegant Elephant." But Ella's brave enough to hold on to her hat, and in the end, the hat (and her heart) save the day. With warm, rich pictures and a charming main character, ELLA is sure to be a new favorite.

"Followers of Jean de Brunhoff and Ludwig Bemelmans may experience dj-vu upon reading the D'Amicos' debut. Ella, a Madeline-ish young elephant, possesses a WWII-era flair and lives in a faraway realm: 'Somewhere in the great, wide Indian Ocean lie the Elephant Islands, hidden by a fog so thick that no human being has ever found them.' Ella's rocky islands protrude from the ocean like terra-cotta turrets, topped with multicolored minarets. Inside this exotic city, bipedal elephant villagers shop at whitewashed, clay-roofed stores like a 'Tuskery' and peanut emporium. On her first day at the island 'cole,' Ella wears a navy-blue uniform like her peers, but chooses to sport her grandmother's 'good luck hat,' a floaty flame-orange number that trumps her classmates' austere caps: 'The teacher asked if she wouldn't mind sitting... in the back row, so she wouldn't block the other students' view of the chalkboard.' Ella's fashion statement soon attracts a bully's attention. Only at recess, when a mishap atop the city wall reveals the hat's magical, parachute-like properties, does Ella achieve acceptance. The memorable characters and setting transform a familiar tale of nonconformity; Steven D'Amico's soft, sinuous colored-pencil line and plush palette recall H.A. Rey's illustrations. The Elephant Islands would make a promising locale for future adventures, and the appealing Ella — who's simply drawn yet unique, like Charles M. Schulz's Woodstock — could easily adapt to new stories and multimedia. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) " Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Ella is terribly nervous about the other kids she'll meet on the first day of school. Then she receives a beautiful red hat that belonged to her grandmother. But when a girl at school teases her, it looks like trouble until Ella discovers just what a good heart can do. Illustrations.Ella is terribly nervous about the other kids she'll meet on the first day of school. Then she receives a beautiful red hat that belonged to her grandmother. But when a girl at school teases her, it looks like trouble until Ella discovers just what a good heart can do. Illustrations.