Not Eric Carle's best work, BUT it still has the whimsy and simplicity I appreciate in all his books.
I got this book to go with the blue elephant sensory toy also available on Amazon because that listing said the elephant was based on this book. I assumed that the elephant was a character in the book, but my boys and I were all disappointed to find that he doesn't feature in the story at all. The elephant is no less an entertaining toy for my baby, but it was a bit of a let-down for my preschool-age boys who had been playing with it and were excited to see what it would do in the book.
Minimal dialogue can be interesting and well-executed in some kid's books (Have You Seen My Cat? is a similar story with very minimal, repetitive dialogue that we LOVE). Part of the joy of Eric Carle's books is that the dialogue is simple enough to invite the readers to ask questions about what might happen next, why a character might say or do something, or even make a simple lesson of each page (what does the brown bear/red bird/yellow duck, etc say?) That was not the case with this story. I suppose it's an invitation to improvise with your child as you read, but a little prompting is helpful.
I did not, however, walk away with the impression that it teaches xenophobia. I mean, you *could* get that impression, but I think it's kind of a stretch. I think we can look at animals as children's book characters without anthropomorphizing them. Should humans interact with and befriend other humans regardless of culture and other demographics? Sure. But outside of some of the amazing symbiotic relationships found in the animal kingdom, species don't interact a whole lot with other species outside captivity. I don't think your child is going to become a Klansman simply from reading a story in which a mouse has trouble making friends until he meets another mouse.
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I was disappointed with the product, the pictures looked extremely faded and none of the pages have any words to the book.
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Top reviews from other countries
Mrs. J. Roberts
Make up your own story to match the wonderful illustrations
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2016joanna69
beautiful illustrations... lack of words
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Do you want another Eric Carle picture?
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