But No Elephants

One of my husband's favorite books from his childhood is But No Elephants by Jerry Smath (1980-08-03).  I have no idea where our copy of the book came from or how it found it's way onto our bookshelf, but I remember how my husband's face lite up at bedtime when he was asked to read But No Elephants the first time and explaining how he loved the book as a young boy.  Now it's a favorite book or our two girls.

The Details: Written (I'm guessing and illustrated because I haven't found anything to tell me otherwise) by Jerry Smath

Published 1979

This cute story is about Grandma Tildy who works hard and lives alone. A traveling pet man comes along and asks her to by a pet.  One by one they find a home except for the elephant, when Grandma Tildy finally lets the elephant in things go from bad, to worse, and then the elephant is a help and in the end everyone is happy (it's a kids book, you know it's going to have a happy ending).

Who as a child didn't spend hours with animals waiting for them to talk back to you, or to help you with your chores?  Maybe that was just me.  I loved stories where animals talked to you and made life easier.  If only that was reality.  And that's the fun in the story.  That a pet turtle is transportation (although that sounds awfully slow), instead of a pet in a tank that just is there to look at and feed and clean up after.

The illustrations are classic late 70's cartoon style, that are simple, fun, and colorful.  I love that you can tell that they were done by hand instead of all the digital illustrations in many of today's books.  They help tell the story which is key to children's picture books and early readers.

This book immediately became a favorite book to both of my girls.  It's on every reading log they do for school, and reading challenges they get from the library.  Our copy of the book was used when we got it (thrift store or handed down from family/friends), it has been well read and used in our house and still going strong.  Since it has lasted through the toddler years I think it's safe to say it's going to hopefully last years from now so we can read it with our grandchildren one day (many years from now).  It has been a book that has grown with both children.  My youngest still doesn't read on her own (age 4) but loves to have the book read to her and she helps out with the line she know "But No Elephants" the repetition helps and now that we've read it many times we follow the words with our fingers so it's great for learning to read.  My oldest daughter is in third grade and struggles with reading, so this is a favorite of hers because she can read it with confidence.  It is one of the few books that they will read together.

our well worn and loved copy of the book

For the review of But No Elephants in their own words you can check out my daughters' YouTube video here.

Is there an overall lesson from the story?  If you dive deep into the physiology of it I'm sure you can take away that having animals around makes you more cheerful, and while they don't (in reality) help with household chores and aren't going to uproot your home to some paradise they do add an element to your life that gives more meaning.  Or maybe the lesson is that the thing you most don't want is the one thing that will be best.  (No one wants to do their homework or spend time to study but you'll do better in the end once you give in)  Really it's just a fun story with no lesson needed to be taken away.

The Bottom Line:  A fun story that has and will last generations! 

• Illustrations are classic cartoon style, well done, colorful, attention grabbing, age appropriate, and aide the story
• Story Line is easy to follow, keeps attention, good repetition for early readers, and is cute and fun.

Happy Reading!