Zola’s Elephant by Randall
De Seve, Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. PICTURE BOOK. Houghton . 2018. $18.00. 9781328886293
BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) – NOT RECOMMENDED
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
A sad lonely little girl notices something new going on in her building. A new family is moving in and they have a little girl her age, named Zola. This lonely girl takes bit of things she see’s and hears and imagines a plethora of reasons why Zola would not need or want her as a friend. Eventually Zola comes to her. Mostly it has to do with the idea that Zola must have moved in with her pet elephant. Large bright illustrations of Zola’s imagined life are interspersed with the lonely girls very blue, sad, and empty life.
This book was sort of sad and depressing. The little girl never did get up the pluck to meet Zola –in fact Zola had to come to her. I like the idea of a big imagination, but the rest was so blue and sad that it was kind of cold and off putting. Normally this is one of my favorite illustrators, but the circus like clown theme was not great. The cover does have appeal though- it actually bright and gorgeous.
Reviewer: Stephanie MLS & Author.
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