Rating: *** 3 stars

Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Geoffrey Patterson,
The Elephant's Child
Frances Lincoln .

Ages 5-8

'The Elephant's Child' is Kipling's explanatory myth from the Just So Stories of how the species acquired its trunk when an over-inquisitive calf got into a deadly tug of war with a crocodile to whom he'd addressed a silly question. Geoffrey Patterson has created an attractive and accessible picture-book version of the story, abridging it slightly but retaining Kipling's peculiar turns of expression and the incantatory repetitions that make it so enjoyable for shared reading aloud. The action is depicted in slightly muted pastels arranged in a photo-album like layout. The typography is clear, and some of the spoken parts of the text are repeated in speech balloons. This is a good introduction to origin stories, and could be useful as a stimulus for children to think up similar stories for themselves.

George Hunt
September 2007, No. 166

Guide to the rating system:
***** 5 stars, unmissable
**** 4 stars, very good
*** 3 stars, good
** 2 stars, fair
* 1 star, poor