Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Curiosity stops just short of being deadly in this adaptation of the Kipling classic. ``In the High and Far-Off Times'' when elephants sported short, ``bulgy'' noses, a young pachyderm full of ``satiable curiosity'' sets off to discover what crocodiles eat for dinner. After a rousing tug-of-war with the Crocodile himself, the Elephant's Child walks away with a new and improved (and quite sore) elongated trunk. Bolam's well-paced version of the tale is sure to perk up the ears of inquisitive listeners. Unfortunately, the text's understated action and gentle humor are overshadowed by random violence--the other animals spank the Elephant's Child whenever he asks a question, and the Elephant Child's new trunk is eventually used to spank them back. Bolam's bright, primitive paintings boldly contrast with airy white backgrounds, and the jungle animals' childlike facial expressions are particularly engaging. Ultimately, though, Kipling's writings remain too sophisticated for the picture book set. Ages 5-up. (Jan.)
School Library Journal
Gr 1-5The complete text of Kipling's classic story is illustrated with a dozen stylish but murky paintings all monotonously presented on the right-hand page. The main character is depicted in parta trunk here, a backside thereand in muted and subdued colors that draw the eye, if only to identify what is going on. As decorations rather than revelations, these paintings may free listeners to imagine their own pictures. However, for literal-minded children, Lorinda Bryan Cauley's illustrations (Harcourt, 1983) or Emily Bolam's fresh pictures for the truncated version (Dutton, 1992) are still better bets.Susan Hepler, Alexandria City Public Schools, VA
From the Publisher
"Lauströer [...] brings readers sweeping spreads, filled with energy and movement. There's a lot of humor here, too [...] I hope Lauströer has more picture books in his future." —Kirkus Reviews on The Hare & the Hedgehog
Kirkus Reviews
2018-10-15
Painterly portraits of African wildlife add naturalistic notes to this ever popular Just So story.
"In the High and Far-off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk." Except that the much-spanked pachyderm's " 'satiable curtiosity" has inexplicably been changed throughout to " 'satiable curiosity," the text with its glorious wordplay is, like the storyline, intact. Lauströer leaves backgrounds sketchy but lavishes attention on his animals—all of which are dark, solid, massive figures, depicted realistically enough to be practically smellable. Sometimes he follows the storyline literally, even putting into the scene accompanying the short-nosed young enquirer's first impression of the crocodile a rather predatory-looking tree trunk. Elsewhere he lets fancy fly, festooning the tail of an ostrich with daisies, for instance, and transforming the white pattern on a giraffe into a loose net in which the lively Elephant's Child is tangled. In the wake of the return of Elephant's Child with a long trunk just right for meting out corporal punishment of his own, all of his relatives rush off to "borrow" new noses from Crocodile, and their return parade sporting stretched-out schnozzes (even the zebra and wildebeest) caps the pictures in droll style.
The story is rather violent by current standards, but the accomplished visuals in this edition serve its rich, resonant language nicely. (Picture book. 6-9)
