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Half of an Elephant
One night, all of a sudden, the world split in two. Faced with this unexpected event - and with half of his considerable body missing - an elephant begins a journey to find his missing half. Along the way, he discovers the many different ways there are of rebuilding and reinventing oneself.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2004
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Gusti
115 books7 followersPseudonym of Gustavo Rosemffet.
Nace en Buenos Aires en 1963.
Cursó estudios en la Escuela de Arte Fernando Fader donde se recibe con el título de Técnico en Diseño y Promoción Publicitaria.
Se inicia en el mundo de la animación en el estudio “Catu Cineanimación” trabaja para los estudios Hanna Barcera realizando series de animación.
Colabora como ilustrador para magazines infantiles como Cosmik y Billiken.
En el año 1985 se traslada a Paris, ciudad en donde comienza a colaborar con editoriales como Hachette o Milan.
Luego de una estancia en Madrid se instala definitivamente en Barcelona ciudad en la que actualmente reside.
Ha ilustrado y escrito numerosos libros infantiles.
Ha sido premiado en varias ocasiones, LA MANZANA DE ORO de Bratislava, premio Nacional de Ilustración, premio Lazarillo, premio Junceda, y el último premio el Bologna Ragazzi Award en la categoría Disability por su libro Mallko y Papá.
Sus libros han sido publicados en más de 20 países y en editoriales tan prestigiosas como: Gakken (Japón), Grimm Press (Taiwan), Nord süd Verlag (Suiza), Hachette (Francia), Edelvives, SM, Anaya, (España) Océano (México).
Ha sido creador junto al escritor Alcántara de la serie de animación “Juanito Jones” con la productora Cromosoma y la serie Edebits con la editorial Edebé.
Ha colaborado de forma voluntaria con centros especializados como el CIM DAguiles en Barcelona, y Cabarcenos en Cantabria.
Gusti es un infatigable viajero siempre acompañado de su cuaderno de viaje ha viajado por la Amazonía ecuatoriana colaborando en el proyecto Harpía y ha estado impartiendo clases en comunidades indígenas de Chiapas en México y Conambo en Pastaza Ecuador.
Colabora estrechamente con un fotógrafo de Naturaleza llamado Andoni Canela y han hecho un libro sobre el lince ibérico de próxima aparición.
Gusti ha dado clases en diferentes centros y escuelas, desde hace 10 años imparte un postgrado de ilustración en la escuela de diseño Eina.
Es cofundador de la asociación sin ánimos de lucro WINDOWN-LA VENTANA para trabajar por una sociedad más inclusiva desde las artes plásticas, realizando talleres inclusivos con personas con diferentes capacidades.
Fue Director Artístico en la Casa de Carlota un estudio de diseño que trabaja con personas con discapacidad intelectual y alumnos de diseño en formación.
Ha impartido clases de ilustración en “LA ESCOLA DE LA DONA”
Nace en Buenos Aires en 1963.
Cursó estudios en la Escuela de Arte Fernando Fader donde se recibe con el título de Técnico en Diseño y Promoción Publicitaria.
Se inicia en el mundo de la animación en el estudio “Catu Cineanimación” trabaja para los estudios Hanna Barcera realizando series de animación.
Colabora como ilustrador para magazines infantiles como Cosmik y Billiken.
En el año 1985 se traslada a Paris, ciudad en donde comienza a colaborar con editoriales como Hachette o Milan.
Luego de una estancia en Madrid se instala definitivamente en Barcelona ciudad en la que actualmente reside.
Ha ilustrado y escrito numerosos libros infantiles.
Ha sido premiado en varias ocasiones, LA MANZANA DE ORO de Bratislava, premio Nacional de Ilustración, premio Lazarillo, premio Junceda, y el último premio el Bologna Ragazzi Award en la categoría Disability por su libro Mallko y Papá.
Sus libros han sido publicados en más de 20 países y en editoriales tan prestigiosas como: Gakken (Japón), Grimm Press (Taiwan), Nord süd Verlag (Suiza), Hachette (Francia), Edelvives, SM, Anaya, (España) Océano (México).
Ha sido creador junto al escritor Alcántara de la serie de animación “Juanito Jones” con la productora Cromosoma y la serie Edebits con la editorial Edebé.
Ha colaborado de forma voluntaria con centros especializados como el CIM DAguiles en Barcelona, y Cabarcenos en Cantabria.
Gusti es un infatigable viajero siempre acompañado de su cuaderno de viaje ha viajado por la Amazonía ecuatoriana colaborando en el proyecto Harpía y ha estado impartiendo clases en comunidades indígenas de Chiapas en México y Conambo en Pastaza Ecuador.
Colabora estrechamente con un fotógrafo de Naturaleza llamado Andoni Canela y han hecho un libro sobre el lince ibérico de próxima aparición.
Gusti ha dado clases en diferentes centros y escuelas, desde hace 10 años imparte un postgrado de ilustración en la escuela de diseño Eina.
Es cofundador de la asociación sin ánimos de lucro WINDOWN-LA VENTANA para trabajar por una sociedad más inclusiva desde las artes plásticas, realizando talleres inclusivos con personas con diferentes capacidades.
Fue Director Artístico en la Casa de Carlota un estudio de diseño que trabaja con personas con discapacidad intelectual y alumnos de diseño en formación.
Ha impartido clases de ilustración en “LA ESCOLA DE LA DONA”
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 24, 2021
The book starts like a classic Hitchcock film – with an astonishing event - “One night, all of a sudden, the world split in two” and then the plot advances… Thus, since the world splits in two, so does everything, including the animals. An elephant (a half of an elephant actually) decides to set off for an expedition to find his other half. As he travels across the divided world, he encounters and befriends myriads of diverse halves – they try to attach, but, unfortunately, such alliances don’t prove to be the best solution and therefore do not last long. Eventually, the elephant starts embracing the new reality and begins to look at the bright side of his astounding and newly-achieved independence. The end of the story is even more surprising than we can imagine!
Half of an Elephant is a startling story with unique artwork – Gusti brings in vibes of the recycling flair – a creative play with cardboard and accidentally found junk. His illustrations and art are accessible to everyone and by assembling random bits and pieces he conjures up a phantasmagorical world of animals and creatures divided into halves.
I definitely appreciated the idea of reusing and upgrading diverse objects and materials to the rank of pieces of art and showing how simply and at low cost, we can create our own forms. This book gives some great ideas but also encourages us to discover further ways to challenge and spark our own creativity and imagination.
Half of an Elephant will resonate with various readers on many levels – the simple story about half of an elephant, a metaphoric tale about embracing reality even if it’s not something we would choose or finally a bunch of great DIY ideas. It is a clever and rare book that can be very inspirational.
Check other reviews on https://littleuglycat.com
Half of an Elephant is a startling story with unique artwork – Gusti brings in vibes of the recycling flair – a creative play with cardboard and accidentally found junk. His illustrations and art are accessible to everyone and by assembling random bits and pieces he conjures up a phantasmagorical world of animals and creatures divided into halves.
I definitely appreciated the idea of reusing and upgrading diverse objects and materials to the rank of pieces of art and showing how simply and at low cost, we can create our own forms. This book gives some great ideas but also encourages us to discover further ways to challenge and spark our own creativity and imagination.
Half of an Elephant will resonate with various readers on many levels – the simple story about half of an elephant, a metaphoric tale about embracing reality even if it’s not something we would choose or finally a bunch of great DIY ideas. It is a clever and rare book that can be very inspirational.
Check other reviews on https://littleuglycat.com
May 29, 2020
“One night, all of a sudden, the world split in two.” 🌏 | This morning’s #readaloud pick, Half of an Elephant by Gusti, is another recommendation from a sweet friend and... I don’t want to tell you how long I sat with this book. At first I expected to just enjoy the illustrations (I’m not sure why) but the actual story is so sweet and humorous, as the characters search for their missing halves in a broken world. If that’s not poetic in itself, I don’t know what is. But please take a second to look at these illustrations... all the subtle details - Gusti uses loose parts so beautifully! If you’re not sure what I mean by #looseparts, “loose parts are natural or synthetic found, bought, or upcycled materials that (children) can move, manipulate, control, and change within their play. It’s used to spark creativity and innovation.” (Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children book by Lisa Daly and Miriam Beloglovsky).
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Gusti said, “My idea is to show children that creativity helps us to live a better life.” Ain’t that the truth.
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Gusti said, “My idea is to show children that creativity helps us to live a better life.” Ain’t that the truth.
January 5, 2018
When the world splits in two, so do a lot of the animals. The story follows an elephant who is looking for his other half. He tries to connect with the other half of different animals, but nothing works. Will he be content as one half, or eventually find his other half? A silly story with unique artwork.
November 19, 2019
copyright: 2006
genre: fantasy
themes: animals, adventure
My favorite part of this book was the illustrations, I love how all things in the book are made up of mechanical parts.
I would use this book to teach how you only need yourself to be considered whole.
genre: fantasy
themes: animals, adventure
My favorite part of this book was the illustrations, I love how all things in the book are made up of mechanical parts.
I would use this book to teach how you only need yourself to be considered whole.
April 23, 2024
One day the world splits in half. The elephant wakes one morning to discover that half of his body is missing. The front half of the elephant begins to wander the world in search of his back half. Along the way he discovers other animals torn in two and soon realizes it has happened all over the world; when the world split in half so did all the creatures in the world. Elephant eventually comes to terms with living with only a back half until, finally, one day the world reunites and elephant too is reunited with his other half. A great read aloud for older kids to discuss themes of war and peace, a world torn apart, acceptance of the status created by worlds torn apart, and the theme of independence.
October 30, 2007
I learned a lot from this picture book. First of all, I learned how creative one can be without drawing abilities. For all I know, Gusti could be a master but he's managed to make art accessible to everyone by putting together bits and pieces of whatever he could find to create a wonderful world of animals and creatures that are the central characters in this tale from Mexico.
The elephant takes center stage as his missing half is twice the size of most animals' entire beings. Gusti's inspiration just might have been the broken "globe" that is shown on the first spread, clearly a visual of land and sea, much like what we all visualize on a world map.
The front half of the elephant wanders through the world in search of his missing behind. Along the way, he meets half of a leopard, half of a crocodile, half of a worm, half of a chameleon, half of a monkey, half of a flamingo, half of a duck, and an entire host of creatures all missing their other half!
With elephant no longer feeling alone after discovering the other creatures with the same problem, he comes to terms with his new situation, his new self, and begins to look at the positive aspects of being only half of an elephant.
There are always pros and cons to every situation presented to us and while life may not seem fair, we're always reminded (by those around us) that we're in this together.
After my recent divorce, I can see why several people picked up this book thinking it was meant to be a reflection on a child's perspective after this life-altering disruption.
Either way you look at it, whether it be a serious reflection on self-image and self-esteem, or whether you pore over the details to discover the tape measure-giraffe, or the white bread-rhino, you'll appreciate Gusti's eye for design, touch of humor and his unique perspective on looking at the bright side of every situation.
The elephant takes center stage as his missing half is twice the size of most animals' entire beings. Gusti's inspiration just might have been the broken "globe" that is shown on the first spread, clearly a visual of land and sea, much like what we all visualize on a world map.
The front half of the elephant wanders through the world in search of his missing behind. Along the way, he meets half of a leopard, half of a crocodile, half of a worm, half of a chameleon, half of a monkey, half of a flamingo, half of a duck, and an entire host of creatures all missing their other half!
With elephant no longer feeling alone after discovering the other creatures with the same problem, he comes to terms with his new situation, his new self, and begins to look at the positive aspects of being only half of an elephant.
There are always pros and cons to every situation presented to us and while life may not seem fair, we're always reminded (by those around us) that we're in this together.
After my recent divorce, I can see why several people picked up this book thinking it was meant to be a reflection on a child's perspective after this life-altering disruption.
Either way you look at it, whether it be a serious reflection on self-image and self-esteem, or whether you pore over the details to discover the tape measure-giraffe, or the white bread-rhino, you'll appreciate Gusti's eye for design, touch of humor and his unique perspective on looking at the bright side of every situation.
March 26, 2016
What a wonderfully crazy story. The world breaks in half leaving all the animals in the jungle missing their back halfs. An elephant goes on a quest to find his missing half. On the way he befriends other animals on the same quest. Not to sure about the moral of this story but it was cute, fun, and entertaining. I did however love Gusti artwork. Who know that a bit of scrap metal, nuts and blots, craft paper, and any other building materials could make such beautiful artwork. It gave a steampunk kind of feel. So detailed and original. Wonderful story to read over and over again. Glad I discovered this book.
December 24, 2015
If a modern day Plato loved elephants, was actually quite content with divorce, and wrote the Symposium as a children's picture book, this would be the likely result.
Interesting illustrations make it mostly alright that the two halves of an elephant are really super OK with remaining two separate halves in the end.
Interesting illustrations make it mostly alright that the two halves of an elephant are really super OK with remaining two separate halves in the end.
July 3, 2009
An elephant wakes up one morning and finds himself missing his back half, Many animals are missing their back half. They try hooking themselves together only to find it doesn’t work. In the end he finds his other half and they hook back up. But not the way they used to be.
November 3, 2011
Very cute. A bit silly.
October 31, 2013
creative for kids
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews