Elephants Never Forget!

An attractive publication that, in the words of the blurb, ‘… touches lightly on the themes of loss, adoption and integration’. A baby elephant is separated from his herd in the chaos of a sudden storm. He finds a friend in the form of a baby buffalo whose herd welcomes him as they frolic together. The elephant’s ability to clear a path for them, reach leaves from the trees for them when the grass is dry and shower them with water from his trunk, makes him a welcome member of the herd. As he grows bigger, he can even chase away the tiger. Eventually the inevitable moment arrives when he encounters his ‘true’ elephant family and faces the dilemma of whether to return to his birth family or adoptive family. The ending could be seen as controversial but is handled with gentle humour. The two-colour, coarsely engraved illustrations are nicely offset by playful typography printed on a warm off-white paper.