Spoiler: The elephant gets easier to find as the jungle around her disappears and a city encroaches, eventually forcing the elephant into a tiny zoo. But she and her parrot and snake friends bust out of the zoo and hop on a boat to a fresh jungle.

If only it were that easy in real life...


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I just picked this up from the new children's book section at my library, and flipped through it, not knowing what it was about. Though the book only has nine words, it's a very powerful story of what deforestation does to an environment and its animal inhabitants. Great way to talk to kids about this issue! ( )

I just picked this up from the new children's book section at my library, and flipped through it, not knowing what it was about. Though the book only has nine words, it's a very powerful story of what deforestation does to an environment and its animal inhabitants. Great way to talk to kids about this issue!

Brilliant social commentary - ( )

Inspired by a trip to Brazil, in which he witnessed deforestation caused by soybean farming, French artist Barroux (Stéphane-Yves Barroux) created this innovative, playful and thought-provoking picture-book. Mostly wordless, the book invites the reader to search for three creatures - the elephant, the parrot, and the snake - amongst the trees on each two-page spread. The forest itself, in the meantime, grows ever smaller as the book progresses, cut down to allow a city to rise up in its place. Eventually the three animals are confined in one tiny green place - the zoo - and not difficult to locate at all. Until, that is, they decide to take matters into their own hands...

Originally published in the UK by Egmont Books, this charming picture-book has only recently been released here in the states by Candlewick Press. Combining the fun of a search-and-find book such as Where's Waldo?, with some surprisingly sharp and very effective commentary on the evils of deforestation, particularly its effect on the creatures of the natural world, Where's the Elephant? is a book that entertains even while it educates. The artwork, done in collage, acrylic and pencil, was colorful and appealing, with a fun, stylized sensibility that worked very well in carrying the story forward. The only text here is to be found at the very beginning, when the reader is asked "Where's the Elephant? Where's the Parrot? Where's the Snake?," but Barroux manages to communicate quite clearly for all that. Recommended to anyone looking for fun, innovative and thought-provoking picture-books for younger children. ( )