Elmer and the Lost Teddy

Elmer, the patchwork elephant, has become something of a publishing – and marketing – phenomenon since first appearing in 1989. Early stories deal with celebration of difference, and with co-operating to solve problems, themes germane to much of McKee’s other work.

Here, Baby Elephant has lost his teddy and can’t get to sleep. Elmer comes to the rescue, lending his own distinctive bear and eventually returning with the lost teddy because ‘all teddies are special, especially your own’.

The exuberant illustrations are less subtly drawn than in the earlier volumes, and the story’s premise weak – a case of stretching a good idea too far, perhaps?