Twenty-One Elephants

by Phil Bildner, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)

Step right up, ladies and gents.
Believe the unbelievable and dream the impossible because Hannah, the little girl with big dreams, is coming your way.
Come and see for yourself her bold acts of bravery, her courageous conviction as she proves to the world that the Brooklyn Bridge is safe to cross.
But she can't do it alone.
P. T. Barnum and his parade of twenty-one elephants provide a spectacular show that will save the day!
Impossible, you say?
Then you'll have to look inside.
You won't want to miss this, the greatest show on earth.

Genres: Picture Books, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Historical, New York, American

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2004

About the author

Phil Bildner is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books for kids. His latest book is the groundbreaking, #OwnVoices middle grade novel, A High Five for Glenn Burke. He is the author of many children’s picture books including the Margaret Wise Brown Prize winning Marvelous Cornelius, the Texas Bluebonnet Award winning Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy, Martina & Chrissie, Twenty-One Elephants, and The Soccer Fence. Phil is also the author of A Whole New Ballgame, Rookie of the Year, Tournament of Champions, and Most Valuable Players in the critically acclaimed middle grade Rip & Red series.

Phil grew up in Jericho, New York, a Long Island suburb of New York City. He studied political science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and then attended law school at New York University School of Law. After passing the bar in New York and New Jersey, Phil worked as an associate at a large Manhattan law firm, but he quickly realized the legal profession wasn’t for him. So he followed his heart and went back to school, earning a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education from Long Island University.

For eleven years, Phil taught in the New York City Public Schools. Teaching fifth and sixth grade in the Tremont section of the Bronx in the 1990s, he built an innovative ELA curriculum around song lyrics and music. Dave Matthews, Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Lauryn Hill, and Wyclef Jean all visited his classroom. Teaching middle school English and American History in Manhattan in the 2000s, Phil continued to integrate music and the arts into his curriculum, working with the Lincoln Center Institute, Broadway shows (Wicked, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and Off-Broadway shows (Def Poetry Jam, De la Guarda).

After leaving the classroom to write full time, Phil began chaperoning student-volunteer trips to New Orleans to help in the post-Hurricane Katrina recovery effort. He founded The NOLA Tree, a non-profit youth service organization and served as the co-Executive Director.

These days, Phil lives in Newburgh, New York with his husband in a two hundred year old farmhouse. Most of the time, you’ll find him out in the yard playing with his dog named Kat or writing on the back porch (aka, his office) overlooking the Hudson River.

Reviews

[Mortisha Cassavetes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written story about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge with gorgeous illustrations. I love everything circus so I had to snag up this awesome picture book. I highly recommend this to kids of all ages.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on an actual event, this story depicts the experiences of a young girl who watches the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge over several years and observe the historic crossing of P.T. Barnum's elephants.

The narrative is a bit long for young children, but will likely appeal to younger children. The watercolor illustrations are colorful, with realistic but exaggerated facial expressions, and have an old-fashioned feel to them. They are reminiscent of a Rockwell painting or illustrations by C.F. Payne.

Overall, it's an entertaining story and I really enjoyed reading the author's note and the additional information at the end of the book regarding the construction of the famous bridge.

[Thomasin Propson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ILLUSTRATIONS are interesting... They change perspectives, page to page; you see one focusing on a distant landmark, another is a low-to-the-ground looking-up view, still another reminds me of a wide angle lens due to a slight distortion/flattening of a portion of the page. The coloring is "olden-times" brown washed.

The STORY is exciting! A new amazing bridge - suspicion about its sturdiness - the circus elephants to the rescue! *Not* truly historically accurate, we read at the end of the book (alas - disappointing!) but enjoyable.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little girl watches as the Brooklyn Bridge is built and finished. Her father is too worried about this new-fangled creation's safety to let his little girl go across it, even when the President visits. Her family, teachers, event the librarian (ugh) agree! And people of the time were suspicious of the bridge. Hannah tries to think of a way to convince her father that it is safe. Her father takes her to the circus to get her mind off things and cheer her up, and it is there she gets her idea. P.T. Barnum's 21 elephants did cross the Brooklyn Bridge relatively soon after it opened. The authors note separates fact from fiction and includes a short bibliography.

There is a nice textual repetition: Hannah's father crosses his arms, scratches his chin, and shakes his head on three occasions before she meets P.T. Barnum, who also crosses his arms, scratches his chin, and nods his head. Hannah's courteous, "with all due respect" is repeated each time she defends a rumor with facts about the bridge. In this way the reader is educated about the bridges specifications too.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the Brooklyn Bridge. A ltitle girl wants to walk on the Brooklyn Bridge but everyone tells her that it is too dangerous. The little girl starts to get discourgaged until she gets an idea when she is at the circus. She asks the circus man if she can borrow his 21 elephants. He says yes and she takes the elephants and goes to the bridge and they walk across. From there on no one is afraid of the Brooklyn Bridge. I think this would be a good book to read to students if you are talking about different types of bridges.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite an educational book about either Brooklyn bridge and I enjoyed how it showed and talked about the girl growing up. Everyone kept telling her the same thing but I liked how she was determined and never stopped trying to let people allow here to cross the bridge. I loved how she used her imagination and the elephants to figure out how she could show everyone that the bridge was strong enough

[Uri Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this brief review, I will compare two picture books that retell the story of the same 1884 event: Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing, written by April Jones Prince and illustrated by Francois Roca (Houghton Mifflin, 2005), and the book you clicked on, Twenty-One Elephants, written by Phil Bildner and illustrated by LeUyen (pronounced "Lay Win") Pham (Simon & Schuster, 2004).

When the Brooklyn Bridge was completed, many people were skeptical about whether it was safe. P.T. Barnum, famous for his publicity stunts, responded with a parade of 21 elephants crossing the bridge. That's the history, and the story is retold well in both books. What are the differences?

(1) TEXT: I'm happy to report that neither book is in rhyme. Prince's text is in free verse, while Bildner's text is in prose. Prince sticks to the facts; Bildner imagines a little girl named Hannah who has done her homework about the bridge and tries to convince people it's safe, but they just laugh. When her father takes her to the circus, Hannah calls out to Barnum with an idea about using his elephants. The greatest showman responds "Great minds think alike," and hands her a flyer about his upcoming stunt. He adds: "Start spreading the news!"

(2) ART: Both books have lovely art, but Roca's art is best with landscapes while Pham's is best with people and their expressions. Pham is one of my favorite contemporary illustrators. (I especially like The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos and The Best Birthday Party Ever.) Not surprisingly, I like her version of the elephant story better.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl in Brooklyn watches the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. She is very enthusiastic about it, but the adults in her life are afraid to cross it. When she goes to the circus and suggests that P.T. Barnum parade his elephants across the bridge to show how stable and strong the bridge is, many people get rid of their apprehension. Though the story about the girl is fictional, P.T. Barnum really did have his 21 elephants cross the bridge. This book taught me that the chief engineer of the bridge was Mrs. Emily Roebling.

[Veronika Bitting · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book the Brooklyn bridge was built and a little girl was trying to convince people it was safe. They ended up having 21 elephants walk across the bridge to show that it was safe. New things are scary at first, but then you get used to it.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A girl wants to go across the bridge, but everyone thinks it’s unsafe. Cute historical fiction narrative and beautiful illustrations.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Brooklyn. Tells the story of PT Barnum crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with 21 elephants. #thegreatestshowman

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read for STEM/literature project.

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book I got because of the illustrator LeUyen Pham. Her characters always have marvelous expressions. Anyway, I loved this book. It told an interesting story about the building of the Brooklyn bridge. I loved it and plan to use it in my classroom. It reminds me of one of my favorite storybooks, Milly and the Macy's Parade.

[Jennifer Conrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book for kids who loves bridges, specifically the Brooklyn Bridge. Through Hannah, the main character, you learn all about the building of the bridge and how people were finally convinced that it would support the weight of the traffic. The illustrations are as lovely as the story. Our bridge-obsessed son loves this book.

[Leigh Collazo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Twenty-One Elephants years ago and have used it in library lessons with 3rd-8th graders. I recently wrote up some of my lesson ideas for English, library, STEAM, art, and economics classes in a post on my library blog. Check it out and please feel free to use and share!

[Miss Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books by Phil Bildner. In this historical fiction book, a little girl named Hannah convinces everyone that the Brooklyn Bridge is safe by taking 21 elephants across the bridge.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of Phil's books -- got a copy autographed for my grandchildren!

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate the way elephants have been treated throughout history. It makes me cringe.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute introduction to the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Pham is definitely one of my favorite illustrators--her detailed watercolor illustrations add to the story.

[Derry Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phil always seems to write about an event that is not well known but very interesting. I loved using this for predicting what might happen next.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

How can authors be so bad at retelling such an awesome story?!? This author chose to add a little girl protagonist who is actually the one who told Barnum the idea. Uh huh. Sure.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story, partly-fictionalized, of the way that faith in the Brooklyn Bridge's stability was established. I suppose this is historical fiction to the letter. Well written and entertaining, but also revealing of a little known facet of history. All the real players in the event were there, but the book revolves around a little girl who was a creation of the author's imagination. As the author states in the notes afterward, "Who's to say that some little girl-some little Hannah-wasn't the source of [P.T. Barnum's] inspiration?" Well done throughout.