When an Elephant Comes to School (review)

Following a day in the life of an early elementary classroom, this picture book explores what happens when an elephant joins a class of humans. Headings identifying the time or activity ("Morning Time," "Arts and Crafts," "Storytelling") introduce each two-page spread, while a loose narrative line describes the elephant's likes, dislikes, and skills in simple language. Post-it-like notes in printed penmanship sprinkle the pages with advice to other students who may have an elephant join their class ("Show him the bathroom right away," and "When he falls, make a big fuss over him"), adding a dash of humor to the otherwise unremarkable summary of a day's events. Not surprisingly, the elephant has many of the same needs and likes of his human counterparts, revealing the story for what it is: an overextended metaphor, punctuated by the occasional elephant joke, about what to do when a new student joins your class. The ginger-colored elephant is sized like a baby elephant, making him bigger than the students but not gigantic, and the physical interactions between the kids and the elephant are humorously rendered. The pastel-colored compositions, roughly sketched in pencil and then painted in, are generally washed out, though occasional bright splashes add some visual interest to the compositions. This has obvious use as a discussion-prompt for welcoming a new student, but young viewers are likely to appreciate it more for its humor than its didactic properties.