Hiding Phil by Eric Barclay (review)

Three siblings are playing outside one fine day when they discover an affable turquoise elephant on a park bench, whose luggage tags proudly proclaim that his name is "Phil." Phil makes a fabulous playmate, with a trunk that doubles as a slide and a shower for their dog, but when the kids suddenly realize that Mom and Dad might not like having Phil around, the children attempt to keep him hidden. After a few failed attempts, they finally settle on draping him in a sheet and painting "CLUBHOUSE" on Phil's side, which doesn't fool Mom and Dad for long. The parents pack Phil up and send him away on the Pachyderm Bus Line, only to make a last-minute reversal. It appears to be too late, though, and Phil's bus is long gone—but Phil pokes his head from the top of the page, reassuring audiences that he is around to stay. The fuzzy pencil outlines and muted but lively palette of the oil illustrations soften the cartoonishness of Phil's big, round eyes and rounded rectangular body to make him a comically cuddly pal, while the siblings quietly evoke the Peanuts gang with their emotive gesturing and slightly oversized heads. The sparseness of the text, with only a few lines of dialogue on most pages, makes the paintings do most of the work here, a task they accomplish with both their friendly straightforwardness and amusing attention to detail (though kids may not immediately understand the humorously wide-eyed realization that jolts the kids after their exclamation that "Mom and Dad will love Phil!"). This charming story will work best in a close lapsit because of the pictorial detail that drives the narrative, but it's likely to leave youngsters hoping they'll run into a gentle giant of their own on their next outing.