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Staub, Leslie

If You Were an Elephant

32 pp. | Putnam | July, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-5247-4134-1 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-5247-4135-8 $9.99
(2) PS Illustrated by Richard Jones. An inviting voice employing the conditional "if you were" guides readers through a book that gives them a glimpse into life as an elephant (here, according to a note in the back matter, the African bush elephant). Readers learn about an elephant's habitat, social networks, diet, self-care (including mud baths), communication (elephants "drum out a warning," sending messages through the very ground, depicted in the illustrations as quilt-like patterns), and more. The text includes pleasing alliteration ("You'd guzzle gallons and gallons"), an ­exuberant tone ("You'd be a fountain spraying rainbows around!"), and satisfying and rhythmic verbs ("You'd slide and you'd roll and throw dirt all over"). Using a palette dominated by an earth-toned ­copper and incorporating subtle ­patterned textures throughout, Jones depicts the elephants in simple, rounded shapes with dots for eyes. Elephants are shown protecting, nurturing, and even soothing one another, images young readers will find comforting. (In one such illustration, observant readers will see two birds hugging atop an elephant's back.) An opening moment of humor is ­delightful: if you were an elephant, you'd "turn the next page with your trunk, not your hand." Either way, readers will want to keep turning the pages of this ­engaging and informative picture book.
Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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