You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus

by Patricia Cleveland-Peck, David Tazzyman

You can't take an elephant on the bus ...It would simply cause a terrible fuss! Elephants' bottoms are heavy and fat and would certainly squash the seats quite flat. Never put a camel in a sailing boat, or a tiger on a train, and don't even THINK about asking a whale to ride a bike ...This riotous picture book is filled with animals causing total disaster as they try to travel in the most unsuitable vehicles. A real romp of a book, with hilarious rhyming text and spectacular illustrations.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Transport, Poetry

27 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

I wanted to be a writer from the age of ten. I wrote plays in old triplicate books of my dad's, tore out the pages and made my friends act in them. Later I went to France and studied at the Sorbonne and to pay my way I worked for an adorable family of seven children. For the youngest, I made up a long serial story, La Famille Ficelle, which years later became my first children's book, The String Family. I then went on to study at Trinity College, Dublin, after which I got married and got sidetracked into training to be a lawyer. My heart wasn't in it however, and when I left to have my first baby I decided I should really try to get a book written. I was lucky, The String Family was taken by the second publisher I approached. After its publication I went on to write about 14 children's books. Later, as my own three children grew up, I began to write articles, some about our life on a country smallholding. Eventually I moved into travel writing and writing the odd adult non-fiction book. I also compiled features for BBC Radio 3 and 4, wrote two radio plays and one stage play.
It was my granddaughter Izzy, who with her comment, 'You can't take an elephant on the bus,' brought me back into the wonderful world of children's writing, which I am enjoying so much that I don't intend to leave.
I have now had published by Bloomsbury
You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus
You Can't Let an Elephant Drive a Digger
You Can't Call an Elephant in an Emergecy
and to come are
You Can'Take and Elephant on Holiday
and more...
The Story of Tutankhamun
Pumpkin Power
Tutankhamun's Last Journey published by Pearson
and The Queen's Spaghetti published by Harper Collins

Reviews

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fabulously wirtten and illustrated childrens story. Great fun for kids and adults. Each page brings so much joy.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doesn't scan, and every animal that's given a gender is male. I was more willing to forgive the second point when I thought it was an older book, but it was published in 2015! I am reliably informed that girls already existed then.

[Karthik Rajeev · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can’t take an elephant on the bus is written by Patricia Cleveland reck. You cannot take an elephant on the bus because they are heavy and fat at the bottom and don’t sit a monkey on a shopping trolley because they are naughty so leave they at home. And nor should a tiger travel by train because they are built to spring and leap and don’t hail a taxi if the driver is a seal because he have slippery flipper, he can’t grasp the wheal. And an centipede on roller skates is rather bizarre because to put the skates he take ages and don’t put a camel in a sailing boat he will leap and make the boat sink and a giraffe on aeroplane wouldn’t be right because the roof of a plane just hasn’t the height . And don’t ask a whale to ride a bike because he don’t have a bottom to sit on it and how can he pedal the bike without any feet. And a pig on a skateboard he will be too heavy he will not get a grip .and I don’t put a hippo on hot air balloon because of hippo’s weight it will crash. And never let a bear come near an ice-cream because bears will gobble it. The all animals shouted, then how can we travel? In a roll coaster, elephant told.

[میم صالحی فر · Rating 4 out of 5]

عنوان ترجمه فارسی: نه! نمی شه فیل اتوبوس سوار بشه
نشر ناریا
یه کتاب با زبان طنز که خانم مریم اسلامی اون رو به شعر برگرداندن و خیلی غیر مستقیم و با کمک حیوانات، بد بودن رفتاری رو به بچه ها نشون میده .
درسته بعضی جاها شعرش روان نیست اما بچه ها با همان هم ارتباط برقرار می کنن

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 3 out of 5]

طبعاً اگر انگلیسی زبان بودم بیشترتر ازش لذّت می بردم...

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely rhyming book that younger children would love.

[Sarita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute silly story teaching facts of animals to small children.

[Matthew Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books perpetuates the stereotype that elephants are unable to ride buses. Giraffes, as this book rightly observes, are unsuited to air travel.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet book we picked up in London. The rhymes appeal to my two-year-old and the illustrations make him laugh.

[Prartahana Rajeev · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can't take an elephant on the bus is written by Patricia Cleveland Peck. It is great story which will make you laugh. It is telling that don't take an elephant in a bus it will break the seat, and don't make a monkey sit in a trolley it will be a great mistake. A tiger in a bus , hooo god!!What about the passengers have asleep. A seal taxi driver that will be totally crazy , it will make you fall at the next curve. Ever thought of a centipede on roller skates, it will take an age to put on the boots. A camel on a boat makes the boat sink. A giraffe on a aero plane makes a great damage to the plane by breaking the roof to keep his neck. You just tell me how can a whale ride a bicycle without having a bottom to sit and without having legs to pedal. And a pig on a skate board will make the skate board break. Did you ever imagined a hippo on a hot air balloon . What will happen if it happen so? Yes, you guessed right it will break and crash down. A bear gobbles ice-cream so never take a bear near an ice cream van. Now there comes a question then how will they travel ? By roller coast, of course. It is suitable for everyone.

[FamilyOfTheDay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really funny book with each page focusing on a different animal squeezing into a different mode of transport, brought to life by some bright and bold illustrations.

As a teacher, I am impressed with the wording (capsize, conveyance and totter, for example) which the book presents to children. It’s great to have a picture book that challenges and expands children’s vocabulary in a context that makes it easy for children to understand.

At points some of the lines can feel a little ‘heavy’ where the poetry isn’t perfect. Yet, with the rest of the book being brilliant, it doesn’t take much away from the overall feel of the book.


http://familyoftheday.com/book-review...

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you could see me right now, you would see this: 😁 Yep, that's me with a huge smile on my face. This picture book showcases animals trying out absurd modes of transportation. An elephant on a bus. A tiger on a train. A pig on a skateboard. And so many more. The full-color illustrations are whimsical with fun details like the tiger reading a newspaper called "Cat Chronicle." So, what can the animals do? At the end of the book, there is a proposal for all of the animals to enjoy a rollercoaster. Remember that pig on a skateboard? He is still doing his own thing. A big thank you to my GR friend Dee for bringing this title to my attention. Love it! 🐘🐅🐖🐫🐳🦛

[Alyce Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus is charming because of how ridiculous it is. This will definitely appeal to fans of the Oi! series, as each of the vehicles that the animals try to ride are dismissed with a hilarious rhyme. Perfect for children who are close to school starting age, if your child is a little bit younger you might want to press pause before picking this book up because the illustrations aren't the brightest and it can be hard for them to focus on, but when they're a bit older I'm sure this will be a fast favourite.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story about animals trying to use different forms of transport, for example, an elephant on a bus or a whale on a bike. The rhyming nature of the story makes it engaging and enjoyable to read, perfect for a read-aloud story. I think young children would love the ideas and style of the story and find it very funny. Children could add their own animals on transport to the book. I’d use the story with FS and KS1 children.

[Kate Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought 'You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus' for my two year old grandson and he took to it immediately. That was several months ago and he's still choosing it from the many in his bookcase for reading together. There's no troubling moral or disturbing ending, as in many of the traditional fairytales. Instead, just imaginative, crazy, ridiculous fun! Plenty of detail too, which we discuss along the way.

I shall now look out for Cleveland-Peck's other books!

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hilarious rhyming book that I think young children (and older children) would love.

Elephants on buses? Tigers on Trains? Giraffes on an aeroplane?

The mixture of animals and transport would make any reader laugh as clearly they aren’t going to work, but seeing how that might work in the illustrations is good fun.

[Laura's Book Addiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book about how animals travel. My four year old daughter found the whale riding a bike the funniest, she also enjoyed the bear eating ice cream. I liked this book and the illustrations. A quick read that held most of her attention.

[Grace Gayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastically, hilarious story book...with illustrations that really ignite the readers creative thoughts and ideas. A story that's filled with rhymes and opportunities for children to fill in the gaps! A lovely read.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about various modes of transportation...and the animals that should not go on them.

It rhymes and it's silly and the illustrations are grand.

Highly recommended to all who enjoy animals and being joyful.

[Laura Daboo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing and entertaining book for children from reception to year 3. This book is particularly effective when read aloud to children. It details why certain animals can’t use certain modes of transport in a delightful and entertaining rhyming story.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to a group of tired and restless Y1 children on a Friday afternoon and they loved it. It's a quirky story with lots of funny ideas. It works well as a book for a small group as the pictures need to be studied to catch all the details.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice and short book to read aloud to the kids. I read it with my 3rd grade class and I felt like there was so much we could discuss about it. The illustrations are great and the story is funny, interesting and unique. Great book!

[Marc Sebastian Head · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun one for the parent to read out, and the details in the illustrations are enough to raise a chuckle or two. However, my son got bored around the half-way mark, so it may be slightly too long (as no doubt my performance was top notch, haha!)

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harmless fun, unless anyone takes seriously the idea of all the animals going on a roller-coaster

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice rhyming story, perfect to start enquiries. How would a dog travel etc.

[Tracy J Hora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book I picked up in London. Cute rhyming story about BIG animals and different forms of transportation that they shouldn't be using - complete with a fun ending!

[Patrycja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a funny picture book. With wonderful illustrations. It rhymes and is a delight to read.
Probably good for kids 3 and up.

[Megan Bamforth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book to read aloud to the children.

[Petra Okeke-Bestman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny with simple and vibrant illustrations. I probably enjoyed reading it more than my little audience.

[James Ruffle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good funny story with good writing opportunities for students to write how they think animals should travel.