Pajama Press

“A book that combines the true story of transporting three elephants from the Toronto Zoo to a new home in California in 2013, and factual information about elephants. The details about this removal from the zoo to a Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in Calavaras County, California are precise. Details of the death of one of the elephants from degenerative foot and joint problems eighteen months after the move are included to illustrate the potential problems of housing animals in zoos. The limited size of enclosures and artificial surfaces employed cause defects that may occur when the animal can[not] roam and keep their bodies fit.

The art of Brian Deines shows the similarities between the Californian highlands and the savannahs of Africa, in contrast to the snowy concrete world of the Toronto Zoo, which adds much to the character and enjoyment of this book.”
—Mavis Holder

“This is the third book by this accomplished author/illustrator featuring Giraffe. The earlier volumes both received OLA recognition, and I would expect that this one will too. In contrast to many books for preschool and young readers, the author introduces a rich and varied vocabulary to express the emotions felt by both the characters. Not restricting herself to “mad”, “glad” and “sad”, the characters are “fascinated”, “thrilled” and “peeved” at different points in the story. The text is limited to one or two sentences per page and difficult words are in a large and different font. The text is accompanied with delightful, full page coloured, acrylic illustrations by the author. The huge difference in size of these friends is not mentioned explicitly, but the illustrations present the problem brilliantly. When the two meet a family of elephants the concepts of small and big, bigger and biggest are quite clear. This will be a wonderful book to share with younger children to feature unlikely friendships and explore emotions.”

Thematic Links: Friendship; Emotions

—Mavis Holder