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snowbenton's review against another edition
1.0
This book started out by being terribly boring: you get one page of an elephant waking up in his bed followed by a page of barely related facts, and then it moves into the elephant sitting down at his typewriter to write his memoirs side by side with a page full of heigh facts about buildings. It is weird and confusing as it seems like Marcel the elephant is only there to help the author throw down some random facts about buildings, ships, birds, and so on.
Then there is a page about instruments that proclaims that snake charmers use an instrument called a tubri that "is capable of hypnotizing dangerous snakes" and I realized that I had no idea how many of the facts in this book are actually true if it is going to tell some myth about snakes on page 16 of 38. (It later claims that owls have poor eyesight, which isn't true either. UGH.)
I finished it, as it was so short, but I can't think of anyone I could possibly recommend this for. I assumed it was for children, but I don't trust the facts enough to recommend it for a child, and I imagine they would be as bored as I was by the lack of story and the cluttering of facts in poorly selected script fonts.
Then there is a page about instruments that proclaims that snake charmers use an instrument called a tubri that "is capable of hypnotizing dangerous snakes" and I realized that I had no idea how many of the facts in this book are actually true if it is going to tell some myth about snakes on page 16 of 38. (It later claims that owls have poor eyesight, which isn't true either. UGH.)
I finished it, as it was so short, but I can't think of anyone I could possibly recommend this for. I assumed it was for children, but I don't trust the facts enough to recommend it for a child, and I imagine they would be as bored as I was by the lack of story and the cluttering of facts in poorly selected script fonts.
beecheralyson's review against another edition
4.0
Great artistically designed book that combines a fictional story about an elephant and lots of various nonfiction facts including facts about elephants.
ihuntsnarks's review
5.0
This is a charming story of the reminiscences of a globe-trotting elephant. It's blended with assorted educational bits about elephants and things related to the elephant's adventures that in a way that will appeal to kids who are always asking "What's that?" and adults who are young at heart. Approved for ages 5-105.
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