What Elephant?

Our next and final and bonus post seriously silly read is What Elephant? by Genevieve Cote. This quirky tale starts with a cry for 'Help' from George as there is an elephant in his house! His friends and neighbors aren't too sure about George's claims of an elephant being in his house and suggest that perhaps the heat is getting to him. Unsure of himself, George heads home to get some much needed rest, but upon arriving home the elephant is indeed still there. George doesn't want his friends to think he is crazy so he does his best to ignore his rather large house guest but it's hard. Elephants do not make good house guests.

Well the whole town eventually encounters the elephant but none wishes to be thought crazy so no one dare mentions it. The elephant's owner finally comes to claim him and everyone shares an awkward laugh and sigh of relief. Hopefully George has learned to trust in himself over the pressure of what others think but with another surprise visitor showing up it does not appear that he or his friends have....

This is a fun read along, I love doing voices for the different characters and my kids seem to go along with it. I'd probably die of embarrassment if I was to ever heard myself back on tape; anyway this is a a very fun read to dramatize with character voices and voice inflections as George's predicament goes from worse to worse. The sketchy mixed-media illustrations compliment nicely the anxiety and anxiousness of poor George and the funny experiences of the elephant making himself quite at home.