What Elephant?

by Geneviève Côté, Geneiveve Cote

George comes home one day to find an elephant watching TV and eating chocolate chip cookies in his living room. When he tells his friends, they say it's George must be seeing things. But the next day, and the day after that, his large and uninvited guest remains and makes itself even more at home -- with disastrous results. (Elephants should NEVER sit on couches.) Is George dreaming or just plain crazy?? Before long, his friends see the elephant as well. Or do they? SURELY they too aren't going crazy like poor George? So no one says a single word about the gigantic creature lounging in the flowerbed ? until something happens that finally breaks this very awkward silence. With delightful text and charming illustrations, Genevi?ve C?t? tells the silly and whimsical tale of an elephant that is seen ? but is not necessarily believed!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Geneviève Côté is an award-winning Canadian illustrator living in Montreal, mainly known for her work on children's books.

She was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and received a bachelor's degree in graphic design from Concordia University in 1987. Côté has contributed illustrations to various publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Utne Reader and The Wall Street Journal; her work has been featured in magazines such as Communication Arts, Print and American Illustration. She has also worked for advertising agencies in Toronto, Montreal and Melbourne. From 1993 to 1995, Côté was president of the Association des illustrateurs et illustratrices du Québec.

—from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm fond of Côté's illustration style and charmed by this story. A young boy tries to convince his friends that an elephant has taken up residence in his house. Naturally, they're skeptical. The boy decides that the elephant must, indeed, be a figment of his imagination, and he sets about trying to ignore it. Not easy, since his new houseguest has made herself rather comfy. Gradually, the friends spot the elephant and each goes to great lengths to deny it. When a trainer from the circus arrives on the scene to claim the elephant, everyone is relieved. There's a cute punchline, too.

[BookBeautyReading Chelsie Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read to the sped class today it’s so cute!!!

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 Stars Ho Hum! Thank Government of Ontario for financial support for this book...but maybe it should have been left unwritten. Maybe it was written in French and it is funnier in French because in English ...it is weird. Why didn't the George try to get the elephant out of his house? He just grinned and bore it. And talk about unsupported friends...who just don't believe his friend! The pictures are basic and boring, story was okay, but nothing thrilling...I will stop writing now...

[Danni Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a sweet, inventive tale about what might happen if "the elephant in the room" were a literal elephant. Adorable!

[Maria Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

George was horrified to see that an elephant had made its way into his house taking over her bed, eating his food, and reading his newspapers. When he tells his friend pip about the elephant in his house. Everyone including his best friend pip thinks George is crazy. After a week went by Pip realizes that George is not acting like himself and decides to go check up on him. When Pip walks into the George's house he is greeted by an elephant. Pip asks George about the elephant in the room, but George dismisses him saying that he is the crazy one. More friends come to George's house and notice the elephant but are dismissed by everyone else who was there already. It is exactly like they were all ignoring the elephant in the room! Eventually, the owner of the elephant claims her and explains that she ran away from the circus.
This book has some humor in it as the author talks about the different activities that the elephant does during his stay at George's house. The elephant takes part in activities that elephants should NEVER do according to George. The bold watercolor images in the book are appealing to the eyes of the reader. The simple drawings almost make the book look like a child drew them which is neat in my opinion. The plot of the story, while short, did a good a good job of capturing my attention and made me continually want to read the book to see what would happen to the elephant. I also loved the ending which foreshadowed another run away animal from the circus. In this case it was a pink poodle holding a suitcase.

[Milton Public · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Emperor's New Clothes, but internalized, or, Are We All Actually Crazy?
The excellence of the illustrations of a big elephant laying down unbelligerently for a nap in somebody's living room saves this from mere badness.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

lu en français. Quel elephant? Une version moderne des habits neufs de l'emperuer. Un personnage trouve un elephant chez lui, son ami ne le crois pas, il se mets a douter de lui même et les auitres personnages qui croise l'éléphant font comme si de rien n'était de peur de passer pour fou.

[Bailey Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Picture Book)
I think kids would think this book is really funny. Cute little story.

[Steven Yeagley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best children's book I've read to discuss the importance of believing someone the first time and also the importance of insisting when you aren't being heard.

[Duong Bui · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very fun and interesting book. A book for children but contains a lesson for grownups. We read it several times with my daughter.

[Armin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot because it was really funny. The second page and the third page and the last page. The elephant was so silly.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a normal day until George came home and found an elephant in his house, yet no one would believe him so he ignored the elephant in case it was in his imagination. Eventually, other people saw it and no one would say anything. Funny story about ignoring the obvious. Fun illustrations.

[Esmoi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This funny story deals with a theme similar to the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes." George and his friends ignore the existence and ridiculous behavior of an elephant that has moved into George's house, as each friend secretly worries the elephant is not real. My four year old was a little puzzled because he's not familiar with the concept of "going crazy" (so he didn't know why anybody would be reluctant to report elephant sightings in suburbia), but he really enjoyed the book anyhow.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was quite clever and really enjoyed it. The reason, then, for the 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the ending. While I appreciate that Cote had limited options for resolving the story, the circus plot was a bit irksome. Elephants (and other animals) are severely abused in circuses and we do not plan to take our son to circuses that include animals. Thus, the romanticization of the trainer/elephant relationship did not sit well with me.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a silly story in the same vein as "The Emperor's New Clothes." No one wants to admit that there's an elephant in George's house, until its trainer comes along and discovers where the elephant has run off to. It has fun illustrations and the absurd plot is perfect for schoolage children and their sense of humor.

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a silly book that my 4-year-old enjoyed. He loved it when the elephant slept on the boy's bed so the boy had to sleep on the couch. He thought it was funny when the boy woke up floating on water because the elephant was taking a shower. He loved when the elephant burped after eating cookies for breakfast!

[Janessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a story about an elephant getting out of the zoo and the boys friend just thought he was crazy because he said he had an elephant in his house. This could be a good book to use with lessons about trust, elephants, friends,invisible friends or imagination. This story would be great for a k-2 classroom.

[Amy Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It's about a group of friends who don't want to talk about the elephant in the room, so they ignore it. It's a silly and poignant book that has many layers. It's enjoyable for kids and makes the adults think. I thought it was a fun read!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea how Genevieve Cote thought of this whimsical, humorous tale, but it was a fun ride that I was sad to see end!

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think my 3.5 year old appreciated the conceit of the book- about ignoring something big in the room so as not to appear stupid. Probably better for an older child.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book. I liked the illustration style, very different from illustrations in other books I've read. If you see an elephant, please say something! =)

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

You couldn't see an elephants in your living room, in your bed or taking a shower, because elephants don't live in houses or visit little boys. Oops, there's an elephant in the room!

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, hilarious & a perfect book to invoke discussion with children (in this case, my grandchildren) about the perils of following the crowd, ignoring the obvious etc.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

George thinks he's going crazy because there's an elephant in his house and no one believes him.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious spin on the saying "the elephant in the room" - enjoyed it.

[Victoria Irons]

This is a funny book about a boy who has an elephant who shows up in his house one day. He tells people about the elephant but they tell him he's crazy so he hides his bottled up feelings about his elephant.