Solada lives by the ocean in the south of Thailand. While she attends her small village school each day, her father spends his day fishing and her mother works in a tourist resort. One day, Solada and her friends arrange to meet in the village so that they can ride an elephant that is coming to visit. But when the day arrives a strange silence takes over the village and the children can’t figure out why. It’s the elephant who knows what’s coming and more importantly—what to do. Frané Lessac’s brilliant artwork is arresting. The luscious array of jungle and coastal tones are engaging throughout the story; from our first glimpses of the seaside village, to the horror of the tsunami’s arrival, to the calm retreat of the killer waves. The mood of the pictures closely follows the sentiments of the story, but occasionally the images are detailed enough to take on their own narration, leaving the text a little heavy. Attractively quarter-bound with a paper-laminated cover, I think The Day of the Elephant will have its day in bookshops not just for its bright, dreamy illustrations but also for its worthy contribution to the tsunami aid effort.

Erin O’Brien is the editorial coordinator of AB&P

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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