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Reviewed by:
  • The World's Greatest Elephant
  • Elizabeth Bush
Helfer, Ralph The World's Greatest Elephant; illus. by Ted Lewin. Philomel, 200648p ISBN 0-399-24190-6$16.99 Ad 6-10 yrs

Helfer's adult book about German circus boy Bram Gunterstein and the elephant Modoc is awaiting possible translation to the silver screen, but first it's getting reinterpreted as a picture book. Boy and elephant were born on the same day in the late nineteenth century, and the bond they formed made their act in the Wundercircus a favorite. When a cold-hearted new owner, Mr. North, takes over the circus and sells Modoc, Bram follows his lifelong companion onto the ship taking Modoc to New York. The pair survives shipwreck, takes refuge with an Indian maharajah, serves a stint on a teak plantation, and survives a brush with Indian-Pakistani hostilities, only to be parted again when Mr. North finally catches up with them and reclaims his property. Condensing this event-filled tale into picture-book format compresses the action into one breathless "Oh, no!" after the other, and Helfer omits such basic information as the time period for the tale, how a ship bound for New York ends up in India, or the fact that he himself was the "rancher" who ultimately witnessed the tear-jerking reunion between Modoc and Bram near the end of the elephant's days. Lewin's watercolors are, not surprisingly, dominated by dusty grayish browns, but even with occasional splashes of circus red, the pictures [End Page 356] tend to roll by with a dreary sameness. Still, the tale itself is amazing, and listeners who don't insist on full disclosure should be engrossed.

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