The Elephant's Child

by Rudyard Kipling, Geoffrey Patterson (Illustrator)

Overview

Rudyard Kipling's delightful story telling how the elephant got his trunk is given a stunning new interpretation by a top artist. Geoffrey Patterson has abridged the original text for a younger audience without losing any of Kipling's much-loved turns of phrase. Elegant and whimsical illustrations give a fresh, vibrant look to a classic story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845074920
Publisher:	Frances Lincoln Children's Books
Publication date:	04/27/2010
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	10.80(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Rudyard Kipling(1865-1936) was a Nobel Prize-winning English writer who today is best known for his wonderful children's stories, which have become enduring classics of children's literature.Geoffrey Patterson began his career in interior design and worked as a set designer with the BBC for 13 years. He was a lecturer in illustration at Suffolk College and has published many books for children. In 1986 he won the Smarties prize for The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg. He lives in Norfolk.

Editorial Reviews

With vibrant illustrations, the text has been abridged for a younger audience.

From the Publisher

Although abridged, this version about the baby elephant who, like all elephants then, had a bulbous nose, preserves the integrity of the whimsical and witty words in Kipling's original story. The Elephant's Child was "full of ?satiable curiosity." Like other word choices, a synonym for insatiable might have lowered the reading level but would have done harm to the charm of Kipling's tale. Wisely, word choice and syntax pattern the original. When the Elephant's Child continually asks his relatives endless questions, they respond by spanking him. The Ostrich uses her "hard, hard claw," the Giraffe his "hard, hard hoof," the Baboon his "hairy, hairy paw," and so on. After receiving a round of spankings when he asks what the Crocodile eats for dinner, he sets out to discover the answer for himself. The Kolokolo Bird tells him, "Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River and find out." Crocodile promises to whisper the answer if he comes close and then catches him by his little nose and pulls. With help from Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, Elephant's Child escapes but his nose is much stretched. The Snake wisely points out the advantages, Elephant's Child returns home to retaliate for his spankings by using his long nose to get back at his relatives, who eventually troop off "to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River to borrow new noses from the Crocodile," and no one spanked anyone after that. Patterson's illustrations are striking. Vibrant colors creatively splash across the book's pages with visual delight as the flow of the Kimpopo River mirrors the elephant's trunk and Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. One can imagine youngsters' squeals of delight with each turning page of this charming and gorgeously illustrated introduction to Kipling. Reviewer: Mary Bowman-Kruhm, Ed.D.

Children's Literature - Mary Bowman-Kruhm Ed.D.