OTTO’S TRUNK

Otto, the elephant, is teased continuously at school for his small size and underdeveloped trunk. He unsuccessfully tries a variety of ways to help it grow, stretching and exercising it, ending up with nothing more than a sore trunk. Reassurances from Mother that he is cute and blessed are unhelpful. By week’s end, Otto reacts to his classmates’ hoots and laughs with anger, boisterously snorting and making sounds that resemble a roaring lion, a hissing snake, grunts of a hog, a cow mooing, and the uproarious cock-a-doodle-doos of a rooster. This surprise behavior is so impressive his teasing peers view him differently and notice that Otto is the only elephant already growing beautiful ivory tusks. Classic themes of belonging and acceptance are coupled with self-esteem and individuality told through a mixture of narration and balloon dialogue interspersed in very average almost amateurish style crayon-and-pencil art drawn on brown butcher-type paper. An overcharged solution to a school or playground problem. (Picture book. 4-6)