Elephants Aloft

by Kathi Appelt, Keith Baker (Illustrator)

Readers will be swept along with Rama and Raja, two Indian elephants as they travel between mountains, behind waterfalls, and across the seas in Kathi Appelt’s simple, clever story. Bold illustrations and a tale told in prepositions add up to a great balloon adventure sure to delight young children.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

36 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Lives in College Station, TX with husband Ken and four adorable cats.

Two sons, both musicians.

Serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably of more appeal to educators than those of us reading for pure pleasure, but still fun & charming. I read it just because I love Appelt. Turns out this was her first. And, yes, they do get better and better....

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how my son liked this one since he read it with my husband, but I really liked the illustrations and the focus on prepositions. It's interesting geographically too since the elephants travel by hot air balloon to several countries, although you'd have to be pretty familiar with the countries to know which ones.

[Mary Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book uses one word for each page with excellent illustrations showing what the word means to help children understand the concept.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baker's illustrations are rich and engaging. I especially love the subtle details he used to differentiate between Asian and African elephants.
Could be used to support the study of positional concepts.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

On of my favorites to read to, or gift for the under 4 year old.

Not only are we looking at beautiful pictures and learning the concepts of over, under, around . . .but you can spend quite a bit of time of looking at each spread of pictures to find the peanut. Never gets old.

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great early reader for kids still learning to sound out basic two-syllable words, with fun art.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun very easy read with great illustrations

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cool concept: a nearly wordless book that teaches prepositions. Double-page spreads show two elephants on a hot-air balloon journey to visit their aunt. As they travel, each adventure is labeled with a preposition. For example, they splash "under" a waterfall and "above" a city. Richly colored illustrations make the magic.
This would have uses across the elementary grade levels for teaching basic "position" words to youngsters or for creating prepositional phrases with grades 3 and up.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the art in this book, as well as the attention to detail that the illustrator has. It has a basic, simple storyline, and there are very few words in the book, but that is because of the age group that it is geared toward.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great way to teach about prepositions and prepositionsl phrases! Additionally, the pictures are great and can be used for storytelling ideas or other topics. Above all, it is a fun book that kids will enjoy reading and listening to.

[elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent for elephant storytime! Works for both baby/toddler and preschool. The pictures tell more of a story than the words, but the words are perfect for the pictures.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for prepositions. Simple book. Nicely done.

[Kelly Triplett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent choice for students to practice their inferring skills. With minimal words, students are encouraged to rely on the picture clues and their schema to infer what the author is describing.

[Ashley Greenfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for inferring. it has lots of pictures to use as clues.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book is very unique I that it only uses prepositions to tell the story. It leads a lot to the imagination which is a good thing at any age.

[Alyson Stambach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for learning prepositions. One word per page with brilliant pictures allows children to see and understand what each word means. If using this book, I would ask the children to explain how the picture shows the preposition.

[Grace Getchell]

This book has great illustrations and is good when talking about perspectives. It was informative on various perspectives. I would have students talk about, explain, or act out how they are represented towards different things in the room. For example The are below the ceiling, inside the classroom, next to a classmate, above the 3rd floor, etc.

[Thomas Revering]

Elephants aloft is about two little elephants riding around on a hot air balloon to meet their Aunt Rwanda. It talks alot about prepostions and different describing words as they go around the world to meet their aunt.

There are great uses for this in the classroom. The author is great at using different words to describe while the illustrator uses pictures to describe the words on the page.

[Caitlin McMorrow]

The illustrations in this book are amazing, with only one word on each page they were the focus point. The book has an elephant and a hot air balloon. The book had a preposition on each page talking about where the elephant was.


This book would be a great way to introduce prepositions to students. It would be a fun engaging way to show students what a preposition was.

[Farah Taha]

This text targets ages 4-7. With one word per page spread, the text exercises the use of spatial language. The author uses positional words that take us on a journey with the elephants in the hot-air balloon. This text prompt the adult reader to discuss what’s going on in the story with children, and allows rooms for discussion.