I wanted a book to read. I was at work where it can be ironically hard to find “the one” as there are too many choices. I had a pile of picture books and looked at them and randomly read the covers, backs and insides. When I found “something” (I don’t even remember what that was) that hit me as it was going to be “the one” I said, “This one. We are reading this one.” (Yes, that was the royal we. We were alone at the time.)
The Elephants’ Guide to Hide-And Seek was that book. This is a cute story by Kjersten Hayes about the trials an elephant goes through while playing hide and seek with their friends. As you can imagine, they are not very good at hide and seek. Therefore, the narrator tells the elephant, here is a book you can read to learn about hide and seek for elephants! (How convenient the narrator just happened to have one on hand!) This is a story within the story is funny and will get you and your child laughing.
The sweet illustrations of Gladys Jose complement the text and goofy story. Everything is tied together in a neat package. The colors are terrifically bold, with minimal details, but the perfect ones to keep things moving. Various situations with the kids, elephants and items around them are bold and pop off the page. It is not “cozy,” but it is comforting. There is not a lot of traditional action, but things are not dull.
All ages can enjoy, but probably best suited for the three to six crowd. The older “just learning to read with help” crowd also could find this a treat.
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