An imaginative "what if" story for children.
Imagine going to bed one night only to wake the next morning to find out that the world had been split in two, and not only does the world split but also every creature on the planet wakes to find its other half missing. This is what happened to the elephant in Gusti’s fun and imaginative picture book Half of an Elephant (Kane/Miller Book Publishers, ISBN 1-933605-09-X).
Half of an elephant, the front half, goes off in search of his other half. Along the way, he encounters half of a leopard and half of a crocodile, each searching for their own missing half. Upon further investigation, the elephant discovers that all the animals have the exact same problem as he has.
The elephant grows lonely without his other half. He needs to feel whole again, so he pairs up with half a worm that talks too much and a half of a chameleon that eats flies. Neither the worm nor the chameleon made the front half of the elephant feel any better.
The front half of the elephant will just have to learn to live without his other half, or so it seems.
Gusti, the author and illustrator of Half of an Elephant, has created a children’s book filled with possibilities. The storyline presents parents and educators with a scenario for further discussions into the “what if” of losing your other half. What would you do? How would you react? How do you think the elephant feels?
The illustrations, created from digital photographs taken of discarded items and rearranged to help tell the story, are incredible. The illustrations get children involved in the story by encouraging them to point out and name the different animal halves. Older children can mentally dissemble the pieces used to make each illustration and “see” how they, too, can create art out of scraps paper, cardboard, and other disposable items.
I’m really impressed with this children’s book. It’s rare to find one that can be so versatile in the classroom, as well as at home.
