Children’s books have come a long way since I was growing up. The illustrations are an absolute work of art and I am getting to the point that I spend more time looking at the drawing than focusing on the words that accompany them.Poor Jim, he loves his pet mouse Pipsqueak, but when there is plague to worry about and his mother is convinced that where there is one mouse to be found, others will be attracted, the mouse has to go. Times are tough and if they lose this year’s wheat harvest the farm would be finished.One day Jim spies a stranger in the field, he offers the man some wheat and asks if he could stay and help bring in the harvest. No, he said, but he was sure that the wind would bring good fortune. Later that night, Jim heard scuffling sounds. Pipsqueak had retuned, but he was not alone. No, the sounds were not other mice. Something much more interesting was waiting for him under his bed.It is hard to hide a herd from your mothers, but right now, there are bigger things to worry about, a swarm of locust is heading toward the farm and they would destroy the crop. With the sound of a faraway trumpet, the herd appeared and an amazing thing was about to happen on a little farm with only a mother and her little boy to witness.This book brought tears to my eyes. The simplicity of the story intermingled with the hopes and promises of a child are wonderfully displayed in this amazing book. This intriguing story is about a boy who lives on a struggling farm. He is made to get rid of his pet mouse so as not to attract more rodents which could ruin their crop, but what is he to do when he looks under his bed and finds an incredible herd of little, flying elephants? Will his mother send them away, too? The artwork in this book is truly beautiful. Sometimes I wondered if I was looking at a photograph it was so sharp. I've been a Graeme Base fan since The Watering Hole so I was definitely delighted to see this new book.
What do You think about Little Elephants (2012)?
enchanting...couldn't get enough from the illustrations...the magic pulled us in!
—m36perez
Beautiful, fanciful and fun, pure Graeme Base!
—Alice
