Elefante (English version)

An elephant never forgets, or does he? Elefante is a young elephant who forgets to tie his shoes and then falls down, having tripped over those laces he forgot to tie. He forgets to clean up his toys and put them where they belong. His sister tripped over the mess Elefante left with his toys, causing his sister’s fall and torn skirt. Elefante is a young elephant, and he frequently forgets.

One day, when Elefante forgot to be afraid, he made a friend. Elephants tend to be shy but Elefante forgot this and got to be a star. A friend teased him about his big ears, but Elefante forgot all about it and the two played the day away and had great fun. Elefante needs to be an elephant that never forgets when it comes to those things he should do, but sometimes it is best to forget and take on new challenges, find new friends and keep old ones.

This is a very cute board book for young kids about forgetting. Most of the time forgetting is not a good thing, but sometimes it can be good to forget. The book explains this to young children using humor and a wonderful animal known never to forget. Kids will remember this concept thanks to the adorable pictures in bright colors. The book has thick pages making it easier for little hands to turn the pages. The pages will hold-up and not tear when those same little hands excitedly grab hold of the page to turn it to the next.

I like this board book. The main character is an orange elephant named Elefante. He is a happy guy that has a problem remembering things, which is sometimes good and other times not. Elefante makes learning the difference between good forgetting and bad forgetting fun. When something is fun, kids will remember the concepts much easier. The author uses situations I think kids will understand and appreciate.

The illustrations, constructed from materials the illustrator found around her home, adding to the green construction of the book. She challenges kids to find some of those materials. While this has nothing to do with the theme of forgetting, it does add another dimension to the book and something kids can learn while they find those special items, like the straw used as . . . oops, I cannot tell you this.

I can tell you how much I enjoyed Elefante and I can tell you that I think young children will also enjoy the elephant that often forgets. Constructed using 98 percent-recycled paper and soy inks, Elefante is an environmentally conscious book. The illustrations constructed from recycled materials the illustrator found around her home, add to the green theme. Vanita Books, a socially conscious publisher, donates all of the net profits from all its books, including Elefante, to charity. Elefante is also available in Spanish.

Picture Book Depot
Rita Lorraine

August, 2011

Should an elephant ever forget? Not according to the legends, yet little Elefante is forgetting everything lately.

Elefante, by Vanita Oelschlager of VanitaBooks, LLC, is a super-brief, super-cute book about an emotional little elephant who can’t figure out why he’s forgetting everything. Forgetting such things as tying his shoes and kissing his mother goodbye leads to such upsetting consequences as scraping his knee and making his mother very, very sad. Elefante doesn’t want to make his mother sad, and he definitely doesn’t want to scrape his knee. Why, oh why does he keep forgetting?

But later, Elefante discovers that forgetting isn’t so awful. When he forgets to be shy, he becomes a star, and when he forgets that awful thing his friend Monkey said about his cute elephant ears, they have the best play date ever.

Elefante is a sweet and surprisingly creative little book about remembering, forgetting, and just having fun. The sentences are short, manageable, and quite funny, despite their brevity. The book itself is a tiny, hand-sized paperback made of 98% recycled paper.

Artist Kristin Blackwood’s illustrations of bright-eyed Elefante and his colorful friends are done completely in soy ink. The interesting patterns on Elefante’s ears, Mouse’s scarf and other characters in the book are produced by items like sponges, bread wrappers, bubble wrap and sand paper, all of which were once consigned to Blackwood’s trash can.

For a wonderful little lap book that is also environmentally correct, be sure to read Elefante.