THE ELEPHANT'S UMBRELLA

A quiet tale of selfishness and generosity.

The plot begins simply: The wind carries off Elephant’s beloved umbrella and gives it to Leopard. Leopard tells the umbrella that he’ll take her hunting and “sit under you and eat [his prey].” Umbrella, revealed to be sentient, doesn’t like this proposition and asks the wind to take her somewhere else. When the wind takes Umbrella to Bear, he tells her that he’ll take all the honey from the bees and “sit under you and eat all the honey by myself.” “No, no,” Umbrella responds and begins to look everywhere for Elephant, who had used her to shield others—mice and rabbits—from the rain. The wind returns Umbrella to Elephant, and all is well. Khodai contributes striking, collage-effect illustrations that render the umbrella as a vivid fuchsia with yellow, green, and blue circles on it. The animals are simply formed and childlike, sporting smiles and expressively beady eyes. Some details may perplex readers. An intermittently appearing scribbly black mass may have readers struggling to decode its purpose. The text has little momentum, moreover, and the denouement comes far too quickly and without any real conflict beyond Umbrella’s distress at her potential uses.

A clear moral caps an enigmatic and unsatisfying story.