Synopses & Reviews
Big and small take on new meanings in this extravagantly droll adventure! If you're ever told a joke, you know that much depends on delivery. Here is a joke told and pictured with perfect pitch, about a journey into the wilds where elephants live and about the fun of catching one -- a process that is utterly logical and utterly nuts. To begin: "3 cakes, 2 raisins, 1 telescope, and a pair of tweezers. That's what you need to catch an elephant. Add to these an intrepid young girl, her uncle (the one giving the advice), and an elephant -- or yellowphant, for he is gloriously butter-colored -- and you have the perfect combination for catching a child's imagination. "Elephants are crazy about raisins," the girl's uncle has said. "And elephants hate cake." How the raisins, cake, telescope, and tweezers all play a part in delighting, enraging, and finally shrinking the great beast to a manageable size, is the story. But not the whole story, for the witty illustrations tell their own, in which color itself is a source of hilarity, in which the elephant's actions and reactions (played off against the patient cleverness of the girl) make each page-turn a suspenseful treat. Sure to be a hit.
Review
This silly, offbeat story is read-aloud friendly... this playful tale is a nice story-time option. (Booklist, November 15, 1999)
Review
A wonderfully nonsensical cumulative read-aloud book with ample opportunity for toddler participation... (Boston Globe, Dec. 5, 1999)
Review
Many children's books try hard for hilarity. This one succeeds by pretending to take itself completely seriously. (Spokane Spokesman-Review, Nov. 15, 1999)
Review
A silly story that is sure to elicit giggles. (School Library Journal, February 2000)
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A wonderfully deadpan fantasy. (Sesame Street Parents)
Review
Could you catch an elephant using three cakes, two raisins, one telescope and a pair of tweezers? After conferring with Uncle Jack, who seems to be an expert on such matters, a young girl decides to try. With simple, colorful gouache paintings, Amy Schwartz tells of the girl's delightful adventure with a very large pachyderm given to temper tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. And what elephants want are raisins, not cake. In fact, this elephant hates cake so much that he stomps on every proffered morsel in utter disgust. Having twice set out a raisin placed upon a cake, and twice witnessed the elephant's delight and subsequent fury, the girl positions the final pastry sans raisin. The barren sweet is the last straw for the elephant, who flies into a rage so great that the girl's courage falters. Fortunately, she remembers Uncle Jack's final instruction: the telescope! Looked at through the 'wrong' end, the very large elephant suddenly seems very small indeed. Small enough for a little girl to pick up with tweezers and carry home in her pocket. While the book occasionally gets mired in repetitive phrases, the story is clear and direct: but insisting that elephants never eat cake and greatly prefer raisins doesn't leave much room for other children's elephant-catching expeditions. The pachyderms of my youthful reveries would have relished a big chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and pink polka dots. Of course I might have eaten it all before I found an elephant. (New York Times Book Review, Starred Review, February 13, 2000 )
About the Author
Amy Schwartz has written and illustrated many classic picture books, among them Bea and Mr. Jones, a "Reading Rainbow" Feature, Oma and Bobo, Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner, and A Teeny Tiny Baby, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. She lives with her husband, historian and critic Leonard Marcus, and their son, Jacob, in Brooklyn, New York.