109 books
—
27 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Have You Seen Elephant? (Gecko Press Titles)” as Want to Read:
Have You Seen Elephant? (Gecko Press Titles)
by
A small boy and his elephant play an absurd game of hide and seek - a brilliant debut from a Sebastian Walker Award-winning illustrator
Kindle Edition, 32 pages
Published
October 1st 2015
by Gecko Press
(first published 2015)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Have You Seen Elephant?,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about Have You Seen Elephant?
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of Have You Seen Elephant? (Gecko Press Titles)
I guess today is the day for elephants! This is the second picture book I've read about them today (the other one being Pete With No Pants by Rowboat Watkins). Have You Seen Elephant?, however, is the stronger of the two, both in story and in illustration.
Even though Elephant warns the boy that he's very good at hide-and-seek, the boy agrees to play, anyway. Elephant's hiding places are painfully obvious, and although it's not clear if the boy is just humouring him or if he genuinely can't see h ...more
Even though Elephant warns the boy that he's very good at hide-and-seek, the boy agrees to play, anyway. Elephant's hiding places are painfully obvious, and although it's not clear if the boy is just humouring him or if he genuinely can't see h ...more
charming tale with lovely illustrations
For younger children, a marvelous debut picture book by an award-winning illustrator. A little boy and a "very" large elephant play a game of hide and seek. The elephant warns the boy that he is very good at hiding, so watch out. The pictures show that the elephant really is good. . . (You must check out the illustrations to understand what I mean!) The colorful and faded illustrations soften the story, told only in dialog. There is a surprise in the end; another hide and seek game is on! This i
...more
You wouldn't guess it, but this is a surprisingly thoughtful book. Takeaways: We are ignorant of our own flaws. We ignore the flaws of our really good friends. Compared to others, sometimes we think our flaws are small.
Or maybe I'm thinking a little too much. After all, this is really just a little picture book about a boy and an elephant playing hide-and-go-seek. Right? ...more
Or maybe I'm thinking a little too much. After all, this is really just a little picture book about a boy and an elephant playing hide-and-go-seek. Right? ...more
A young boy plays a game of hide and seek with his elephant friend. The pictures are clever because the elephant is hidden in everyday objects, for example the TV stand. We share this inside knowledge with the elephant and wonder whether the boy will find him. Young children would really enjoy this book. They could make their own elephants to hide around the school and create 'Missing Elephant' posters to help the boy find him.
...more
I really enjoyed this picturebook about a boy trying to find 'the elephant in the room'. The painting style gives a very warm and lived-in feel to the illustrations which, mostly, spread in full bleeds across the picture plane. On the surface, this story may be a humorous game of hide and seek but I couldn't help get a niggling feeling that a deeper story is being told here.
The endpapers tells us that the boy is, possibly, of mixed race. Through a range of portraits, we see a family through the ...more
The endpapers tells us that the boy is, possibly, of mixed race. Through a range of portraits, we see a family through the ...more
What child doesn’t love a game of hide and seek, but with an elephant it is even more fun. David Barrow has created a story that will delight young and old.
The cover entices you to open the book with a picture of Elephant trying unsuccessfully to hide behind a small tree. Elephant dominates the colourful illustrations. The boy and the dog although simply illustrated, show recognisable emotions during their hunt for Elephant; the boy’s shrug of the shoulders, the dog’s inquisitive looks.
The imagi ...more
The cover entices you to open the book with a picture of Elephant trying unsuccessfully to hide behind a small tree. Elephant dominates the colourful illustrations. The boy and the dog although simply illustrated, show recognisable emotions during their hunt for Elephant; the boy’s shrug of the shoulders, the dog’s inquisitive looks.
The imagi ...more
A beautiful illustrated story and I love the watercolour effect of the drawings. The story has cute and my daughter enjoyed pointing out all the places the elephant hides in are own house. A great bed time read, quick with not to many words for a young pre-school child to follow along with...
Where could elephant be?? This book reminds me a lot of playing hide-and-seek with my toddler...
This was not my own experience as a fat kid playing hide-and-seek.
Loved the opposite part of this book when the elephant wants to play hide and seek. Great for first grade!
This was a cute picture book.
This book is brilliant! Such a simple concept, humoursuly done but with so many potential deeper meanings!
It tells the story of a boy (possibly neglected by his parents) looking for an elephant hiding in comicly bad places.
The pictures in this book are studding, and the style of the paintings make it seem so warm and inviting! The attention to detail is outstanding, espishally in the family photos in the first and last page!
What elephant and the tourtose represent could be up to debate, could ...more
It tells the story of a boy (possibly neglected by his parents) looking for an elephant hiding in comicly bad places.
The pictures in this book are studding, and the style of the paintings make it seem so warm and inviting! The attention to detail is outstanding, espishally in the family photos in the first and last page!
What elephant and the tourtose represent could be up to debate, could ...more
Love.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Warning: will make you want to play hide-and-seek, and then tag. Oh, and laugh. Definitely laugh. One of the rare picture books which illustrates diversity without drawing RED ARROWS around the characters or creating a token minority. Read this book & you'll see what I mean. Great for interacting with kids. Highly recommended.
...more
This book of hide and seek works on a number of levels with various aged children. Older kids (4-6) will get the irony but younger ones (2-3 yrs) will be thrilled that they can easily find the elephant.
Rather dull illustrations, murky and messy.
Don't ever assume about someone. If you do, you just might be surprised!
...more
I loved this cute picture book. Elephant is very good at hiding and the art work is wonderful too.
Young readers will really enjoy the silliness of the story. Beautiful illustrations.
It's sooooooo cute! Like 4.5 stars good.
...more
Mar 04, 2019
Meredith
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
childrens-picture-books
A boy plays hide and seek with an elephant.
I was unsure about whether the elephant is supposed to be an unexplained fantasy element common to children's picture books or the boy's imaginary friend. Since the boy's parents don't see the elephant, I am leaning towards imaginary.
It is also unclear from the story whether or not the boy sees where the elephant is hiding. Is the boy pretending not to see the elephant? Or, does he really not see the elephant? The boy's dog obviously finds the elephant ...more
I was unsure about whether the elephant is supposed to be an unexplained fantasy element common to children's picture books or the boy's imaginary friend. Since the boy's parents don't see the elephant, I am leaning towards imaginary.
It is also unclear from the story whether or not the boy sees where the elephant is hiding. Is the boy pretending not to see the elephant? Or, does he really not see the elephant? The boy's dog obviously finds the elephant ...more
This one just didn't really do it for me, even though there are similar books I've really appreciated. Something just didn't quite gel here. I think I couldn't tell if the kid was actually NOT supposed to be seeing the elephant, or just playing along, and somehow that mattered. Also I felt like the turtle showing up at the end was unclear, maybe for some reason a turtle being slow didn't really come through - feel like it would have been more effective with a snail.
Also the change to the family ...more
Also the change to the family ...more
In this adorable picture book, a little brown-skinned boy plays hide and seek with his large elephant friend. The elephant cautions him, “I must warn you though. I’m very good.” The boy fails to find elephant in various hiding places, though he will be easily found by readers as parts of him stick out from behind the curtains, beneath the covers of the bed, and under the lampshade. When he hides behind the television, the boy’s dad can’t see him either, although elephant is so large, he’s actual
...more
Dec 30, 2017
Tracey
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
toddler-prek-readalouds
diverse picture book (elephants, animals, hide-and-seek, imaginary friends; toddler/preschool ages 2 and up).
* Prominently features a diverse cast: a cute little African-American boy stars with his elephant friend; the boy's mom and dad also make an appearance.
* Would work for a toddler/preschool storytime: yep, kids and parents will get a kick out of the visual gags--a huge elephant that somehow the boy fails to see on each page. Text is also short and sweet, so you shouldn't have any problems ...more
* Prominently features a diverse cast: a cute little African-American boy stars with his elephant friend; the boy's mom and dad also make an appearance.
* Would work for a toddler/preschool storytime: yep, kids and parents will get a kick out of the visual gags--a huge elephant that somehow the boy fails to see on each page. Text is also short and sweet, so you shouldn't have any problems ...more
I loved this book. The illustrations were beautiful and I liked that the protagonist had dark skin (but that the book wasn’t ABOUT race. Just positive representation).
Really fun story about a boy trying to find his elephant friend during a game of hide and seek. The elephant is always hiding in plain sight on the page, but the boy doesn’t find him.
Read this during storytime and had mixed engagement with helping me try to find elephant on each page. Would probably work better in a smaller setti ...more
Really fun story about a boy trying to find his elephant friend during a game of hide and seek. The elephant is always hiding in plain sight on the page, but the boy doesn’t find him.
Read this during storytime and had mixed engagement with helping me try to find elephant on each page. Would probably work better in a smaller setti ...more
Play hide and seek with an Elephant in this wonderful picture book by David Borrow. What I absolutely adore about it (besides for the illustrations, which are outstanding) is the fact that reading it to a child turns into great pantomime, where they can point out where the elephant is, as the little boy cant seem to find it.
Couple that up with a turtle who is a whiz at tag and you've got a brilliant children's book.
...more
Couple that up with a turtle who is a whiz at tag and you've got a brilliant children's book.
...more
This good is thematically rich. It takes you through a child playing hide and seek with an elephant. This makes it engaging for children as the search and find the elephant on each of the pages. It has a sense of humor at the end when a turtle says that he is the best at playing tag. This would be a great fun book to read to children at a morning meeting or have in your library
for children to read independently
for children to read independently
What a fun book for toddlers and perhaps kids just a little older. There is some humor in here for adults and older children as well as for youngsters, who can certainly find Elephant, although the main character cannot. This book was a perfect partner for Bear Hare -- Where's Bear? in a toddler storytime.
...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers also enjoyed
David Barrow won the Sebastian Walker Award for most promising student and is now living the dream making picture books as his full-time job. His first book was short-listed for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. He currently resides in the wilds of Northamptonshire, England, with his partner, Jo, their son, and their overaffectionate cat.
Related Articles
You might know comedian Colin Jost from his work as the co-anchor of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, or perhaps you know him as Scarlett...
126 likes · 47 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
