Every Home Needs an Elephant

In this illustrated chapter book, readers meet Sarah, a lonely child who spends her summer holidays making lists while her busy mother adheres rigidly to her schedule of routines and her vague father is preoccupied with his inventions. Sarah wants a pet for company and is surprised when her parents seem to agree. When she attends a half-price pet sale, only elephants are left. With the absent-minded assent of her father engrossed in grocery shopping and the hearty endorsement of the saleslady – “Every home needs an Elephant” – , Sarah chooses Mr. Smith, the largest elephant available. Needless to say, despite the intuitive bond Sarah and Mr. Smith share, his presence in an apartment is disruptive and Mr. Smith must go. Drastic actions result in physical and emotional turmoil until a harmonious resolution is found.

Containing a mixture of emotion, down-to earth practicality and absurdity, this whimsical, simply told story is full of subtle, understated humor and sharp observation. The plot moves at an engaging clip revealing parents who are loving but are so busy that they clearly are clueless as to what is happening in Sarah’s world. With mixed messages from the adults in the story, it is up to two children and an elephant to find a solution to the problems a very large allergic pet poses.

The nicely defined characters, each with their own degree of eccentricity, are all distinctive, but Mr. Smith and Sarah are particularly poignantly drawn. The elephant is a gentle, sensitive, sad soul who has an instant rapport with lonely Sarah and vice versa. Through her new pet, Sarah finally finds a new and offbeat friend – practical Princess Peter whose aristocratic family name all their firstborn children Peter!

Every Home Needs an Elephant is generously and attractively illustrated with expressive black and white drawings and a map of the area where Sarah lives. However, fragmented scatterings of tiny often unidentifiable objects throughout, some with conversation, are distracting.

On one level, Every Home Needs an Elephant is a quirky lighthearted story about an unusual pet, but it also reveals the complexities of loving relationships between friends, families and even animals!