Weighty Matters: How Much Does The Gray In An Elephant Weigh? by Elle Van Lieshout
WHEN YOU VISIT THE ZOO
DO YOU WONDER LIKE I DO...
WHY DOES THE GIRAFFE HAVE SPOTS OF BROWN?
AND DO THE ZEBRA'S STRIPES GO UP OR DOWN?
A small boy's imagination flows freely as he strolls the zoo with his grandfather and envisions the animals he sees in rather strange situations.
Are tangled necks a problem when a pair of flamingos do tangos and fandangos?
Does the rhino know his horn is where his nose is supposed to go?
Does the polar bear, in the summer heat, go for an icy frozen treat?
And does the crocodile's dentist have to count and clean all those teeth?
Elle Van Lieshout's and Erik Van Os' How Much Does the Gray in an Elephant Weigh? (Lenniscott, 2013) is not your usual trip to the zoo with Grandpa. Artist Alice Hoogstad's imagined animals are portrayed in soft but surprising shades, and instead of daydreaming of animals in their natural habitats, this boy conjures up visions of them in fanciful settings--the zebra and giraffe getting their striped and spots painted on in an artist's studio, the croc in a dentist's reclining chair, a lion getting his mane tamed in a salon makeover, and the elephant on an appropriately sizable scale weighing in with and without the gray. Kids who like their zoo trips on the wild side (in more ways than one) will find this rhyming and imaginative outing not your everyday walk in the zoological park.