ELEPHANTS DO NOT BELONG IN TREES

An elephant lives in a tree. Wait…what?

Bird, Squirrel, and Monkey raise objections. Bird wants to nest there, Squirrel wants to store nuts in it, and Monkey wants to swing in its branches. They know elephants don’t belong in trees. But Larry the pachyderm remains unperturbed. In fact, Larry enjoys the neighbors’ attempts at eviction. Bird’s head-pecking is soothing; Squirrel’s throwing nuts is treated as sport; and Monkey’s tail-swinging is encouraged. Then, a shattering noise pierces the landscape: A giant bulldozer rumbles up, threatening to topple the tree. Individually and collectively, Bird, Squirrel, and Monkey work mightily to thwart the machine, to no avail. Meanwhile, Larry slurps up a prodigious amount of water and squirts it out with such force that it pushes the bulldozer. In saving the tree, Larry wins the others’ respect and appreciation and proves that elephants definitely belong in trees. A cute surprise twist at the end raises the specter of a new, unexpected neighbor moving in. This is a giggle-inducing story about acceptance and turning the tables on expectations, and it works equally well as a laptime or group-session read-aloud. Enhancing the aural fun is the liberal use throughout of emphatic display type that cues readers to emphasize some words for comic dramatic effect, as well as abundant onomatopoeia. Illustrations are quirky and energetic; the expressive animal characters have lively personalities.

Wry humor with a bouncy beat: a treat for storytimes.