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How to Catch An Elephant
by
Here's the secret. Follow your uncle's advice and take to the jungle "3 cakes, 2 raisins, 1 telescope, and a pair of tweezers." Find a tree and wait for an elephant. If the elephant is angry, obstreperous, and hungry...hold on, be brave--things are not always what they seem.
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Paperback, 40 pages
Published
October 3rd 2001
by DK Children
(first published 1999)
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Showing 1-30
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I don't even know what just happened to me.
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I have mixed feelings about this story. It has a clever folktale quality, but at the expense of the elephant being teased. The ending bothered me too since the story doesn't end well for the elephant.
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Very silly!
Overview: “Three cakes, 2 raisins, 1 telescope, and a pair of tweezers. That’s what you need to catch an elephant.” This is an amazing story of how a little girl catches an elephant with the items mentioned above!
Mommy Bookworm’s Thoughts: This book is full of bright, vibrant illustrations, and is quite fun to read – especially if you act out the elephant’s tantrums! Once again, there is a conflict online about what age group it’s appropriate for. I believe that younger children (3-5) would enjo ...more
Mommy Bookworm’s Thoughts: This book is full of bright, vibrant illustrations, and is quite fun to read – especially if you act out the elephant’s tantrums! Once again, there is a conflict online about what age group it’s appropriate for. I believe that younger children (3-5) would enjo ...more
Fun with optics! Or something!
This is just weird. I think I had heard this story before, maybe in a shorter version like a joke. Basically, it says that in order to catch an elephant, you need cakes, raisins, a telescope, and a pair of tweezers. Because apparently, elephants love raisins but hate cake. Like the existence of cake just makes them angry. This is the weirdest, most surreal book. After some antics with cake and raisins, you're supposed to look through the telescope backwards so the e ...more
This is just weird. I think I had heard this story before, maybe in a shorter version like a joke. Basically, it says that in order to catch an elephant, you need cakes, raisins, a telescope, and a pair of tweezers. Because apparently, elephants love raisins but hate cake. Like the existence of cake just makes them angry. This is the weirdest, most surreal book. After some antics with cake and raisins, you're supposed to look through the telescope backwards so the e ...more
So, so cute! My five-year-old picked this book out at the library and read it to herself at home. Every few pages, she would stop and giggle. At the end of the book, she started laughing with such delight that I had to stop cooking dinner and come and find out what was going on (she had guessed what the tweezers were for). I loved that she had such a great experience discovering a book for herself. She read this book to my friend and to both her grandmothers over the phone with such expression..
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This book is so cute!
The language is awesome, playful, and I laughed out loud when I found out how the elephant ended up being caught! Children will love the repetition, and, I'm sure, saying,
"Elephants are CRAZY about raisins!"
Haiku Review:
First, you'll need raisins.
They are crazy about them,
but they don't like cake! ...more
The language is awesome, playful, and I laughed out loud when I found out how the elephant ended up being caught! Children will love the repetition, and, I'm sure, saying,
"Elephants are CRAZY about raisins!"
Haiku Review:
First, you'll need raisins.
They are crazy about them,
but they don't like cake! ...more
This book was a little whimsical for my taste but I could see my preschoolers doing the movements. A little girl sets out on an adventure to catch an elephant using rains, a telescope, and cake. Will she succeed?
Jul 25, 2008
Peggy
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
juvenile-fiction,
picture-book
I love this book! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stamp! Stamp! Stamp! I mean really, elephants love raisins and they hate cake! Step by step instructions on how to catch an elephant are just down right funny, if not a little dangerous.
A rather cute and kooky story of a very unorthodox way to catch an elephant using raisins and cake. Asher (5 y.o.) ended up being able to read this story outloud to Dex (2 y.o.). They both enjoyed it a lot.
Simple, but fun illustrations.
Simple, but fun illustrations.
I teach preschoolers and we LOVELOVELOVE this book. It's been on my shelf for 5 years and its always a favorite. Children who've left
the program come back to visit and always ask to read the elephant book! ...more
the program come back to visit and always ask to read the elephant book! ...more
Great book and it has wonderful body movements to have the kids do with you but the end result on how to catch an elephant might get lost on little ones
Provides instructions for using such necessary tools as cakes, raisins, tweezers, and a telescope to catch an elephant.
Provides instructions for using such necessary tools as cakes, raisins, tweezers, and a telescope to catch an elephant.
Jan 18, 2014
KarenMLISt
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
everybody-fiction
She dedicates this book "To my fsther...who told me this story." After you read it, you can only imagine what a fun, sweet daddy he must have been. Great example of using one's imagination to solve a problem in the funnest of ways!
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The kids really liked this funny "how-to" book :-)
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Now I want to try to catch an elephant using three cakes, two raisins and a telescope.
This book was hard for Flora to understand, understandably... but Momma was a bit lost, too. Not one of Schwartz's best, though we think she's usually quite wonderful.
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A unique story with a clever, unexpected ending. My little boy loved it, too.
Jun 03, 2008
Corinne
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
young children
Shelves:
picture-books
Cute, silly story. Great use of verbs describing the elephant's actions.
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I really didn't enjoy this story at all. It didn't make sense and the pictures were not appealing.
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I loved this story!
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Amy Schwartz is the author and illustrator of many picture books for children, including Begin at the Beginning; Things I Learned in Second Grade; Bea and Mr. Jones, a Reading Rainbow feature; What James Likes Best, recipient of the 2004 Charlotte Zolotow Award; and a glorious day. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband Leonard S. Marcus, and their son, Jacob.
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