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17 Kings and 42 Elephants
Where those kings are headed is a mystery, but no travelers ever had such a jolly time. Here is a royal romp through a tongue-twisting paradise.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
About the author
Margaret Mahy
333 books291 followersMargaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up.
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
July 3, 2016
Ok, 4.3 stars, but rounded up because the community average is far too low and I must help boost it! Did the naysayers not read it aloud?
So much fun, with the made-up words to make the joyful rhymes. It's a nonsense poem, like classics by Seuss, Lear and Carroll. More than that, it's so graceful and rhythmic, it's singable, or at least chant-able. More simply than that, it's silly. And with the bright & original art, with all the different jungle animals and the huge smiles on the kings' faces as they ride and dance, it's a book that should get your whole family or preschool up and moving, too. I also like the quiet, mysterious ending.
How sad to be such a stick-in-the-mud literalist that you can't enjoy:
"Who joined the singsong? Cranes and pelicans,
Peacocks fluttering their fine fantails,
Flamingos chanting 'Ding Dong Bellicans!'
Rosy as a garden in the jungle vales."
So much fun, with the made-up words to make the joyful rhymes. It's a nonsense poem, like classics by Seuss, Lear and Carroll. More than that, it's so graceful and rhythmic, it's singable, or at least chant-able. More simply than that, it's silly. And with the bright & original art, with all the different jungle animals and the huge smiles on the kings' faces as they ride and dance, it's a book that should get your whole family or preschool up and moving, too. I also like the quiet, mysterious ending.
How sad to be such a stick-in-the-mud literalist that you can't enjoy:
"Who joined the singsong? Cranes and pelicans,
Peacocks fluttering their fine fantails,
Flamingos chanting 'Ding Dong Bellicans!'
Rosy as a garden in the jungle vales."
August 28, 2013
My 3 yr old twins got this for their birthday and I didn't think it was going to be something they'd enjoy but I was wrong. The unusual water color type illustrations of all the animals were unique enough to hold their attention. And the unusual style of writing with rhymes coupled with some intense imagery made my 5 yr old fascinated with it as well. It was fun reading the tongue-tying rhymes and watching my kids rapt attention to the book. There are too many books in this world, so it's not one of my kids favorites, but definitely unique enough to merit an add to any children's collection.
August 18, 2011
This book HAS to be read aloud. The meter and word-play are amazing. I still wonder how Mahy pulled it off. (I've scanned it several times but there's an unusual precision here--I'll doubtless study it some more.)
One of my favorite rhythm books!
One of my favorite rhythm books!
July 5, 2015
Since I'm trying to read all of Mahy's that I can get my hands on, I picked this up at the library. Took it home. Read it. It was fun but nothing magical. But then I took it babysitting and read it outloud. Ah! There's the magic!
July 9, 2018
It’s sing-songy, but the illustrations are disappointing. All of the kings have white skin which doesn’t make a lot of sense in the context.
September 15, 2021
Delightfully creative rhyming text and beautiful joyous watercolor illustrations.
August 28, 2023
***Actual Star Rating: 1.5 Stars***
Was hoping for more of this book although I cannot quite say how much more but it wasn't what I was thinking. 17 Kings and 42 Elephants is a story about a procession of kings traveling through the jungle to some mysterious destiny that is never mentioned or implied but while they are going there they will be doing it in style.
The book is basically a flowing poem with some rhyme but the only reason why it reaches that is since the author chose to make up words as the story went along as a result the reader will find words such as umbrellaphants, hippopotomums, baboonsters, gorillicans and mistalline just to provide a few examples, which to me is more than annoying. Furthermore some of the animals that are included in the book aren't even native to the jungle in which these kings should be traveling through such as said baboons, gorillas or even the hippos are only found in Africa while tigers are found in Asia.
I also wasn't a fan of the art medium that was used for this book since although it was brightly colorful, took up the whole page and had lots of details some of it was stylistically very simple that the crocodiles looked weird, heads seemed to be floating off of bodies, the elephants were proportionally off or the illustrations themselves just bled into colored shapes with no details. Fortunately most of the kings were definitely given different facial features, which is a bit more of a perk for this book than anything.
All in all I cannot say that I appreciated this book at all but it could be a fun read for children if you don't mind the fake words and the animals being in the wrong places. And if it turns out that they like this book then maybe you can have them make up an ending for this rollicking kings.
Was hoping for more of this book although I cannot quite say how much more but it wasn't what I was thinking. 17 Kings and 42 Elephants is a story about a procession of kings traveling through the jungle to some mysterious destiny that is never mentioned or implied but while they are going there they will be doing it in style.
The book is basically a flowing poem with some rhyme but the only reason why it reaches that is since the author chose to make up words as the story went along as a result the reader will find words such as umbrellaphants, hippopotomums, baboonsters, gorillicans and mistalline just to provide a few examples, which to me is more than annoying. Furthermore some of the animals that are included in the book aren't even native to the jungle in which these kings should be traveling through such as said baboons, gorillas or even the hippos are only found in Africa while tigers are found in Asia.
I also wasn't a fan of the art medium that was used for this book since although it was brightly colorful, took up the whole page and had lots of details some of it was stylistically very simple that the crocodiles looked weird, heads seemed to be floating off of bodies, the elephants were proportionally off or the illustrations themselves just bled into colored shapes with no details. Fortunately most of the kings were definitely given different facial features, which is a bit more of a perk for this book than anything.
All in all I cannot say that I appreciated this book at all but it could be a fun read for children if you don't mind the fake words and the animals being in the wrong places. And if it turns out that they like this book then maybe you can have them make up an ending for this rollicking kings.
October 19, 2021
This is a cute, short picture book that can be used to introduce basic math facts to young children (Pre-K to 2nd grade). The story takes you on an adventure through the jungle where the 17 kings and their 42 elephants encounter a number (pun intended) of different animals. Throughout the book their basic numbers and math facts (addition and subtraction) can be found. You will also experience some fun and catchy alliterations and nonsense words throughout the text. This would be a great text to read with younger mathematicians and/or those who are struggling with math math concepts. The book itself is short and would take a seasoned teacher no more than 5 minutes to read. This book could be used as an informal assessment tool when working to find out if students have basic number identification and understanding skills.
April 19, 2020
This book would be a great book to read aloud to the classroom. It is a poem that uses rhyming to share the authors story of a royal parade throughout the jungle. The illustrations on each page pop! They tell their own story and show the emotions. This could be used for teaching a math lesson. The question could be how can 17 kings equally share responsibly for taking care of 42 elephants. This is a great way to introduce division to the class.
January 22, 2019
The watercolor illustrations are sometimes hard to understand and all the kings have pretty white skin, which makes no sense in context, but the magic in this book is the lyrical nonsense rhymes. My preschoolers and I had fun pointing out a few of the nonsense words and talking about what they might mean. A fun read aloud!
July 27, 2020
This book was mentioned in my children's literature textbook as an example of books that help build visual literacy. The pictures were unique and gave the book a dream-like quality that matched the silliness of the poem the book illustrates. This book would be fun to read aloud due to the silly rhymes and rhythm.
September 19, 2017
The text of this story didn't make sense to me. Through the first 1/3 I was really into it and the words clicked and worked for me. Then it just got weird? Not rhyming, not straight prose... it was an odd flow. The illustrations, however, are beautiful! Picture book.
October 8, 2017
I read this book to my daughter when she was small and delighted in the lyricism and nonsensical words that played like music without notes. To find it again over twenty years later is a pure delight.
September 25, 2017
A simple toddler an dup book where kings set out through jungle on elephants and encounter many different types of animals. Children can often imitate the movement.
December 14, 2018
A rhyming tongue-twisting poem about a caravan through the jungle of a tropical paradise that has a multitude of animals that are indigenous to the land.
February 8, 2019
Love the invented words and the way they work with the illustrations so rhythmically.
August 23, 2021
A favorite picture book!
March 20, 2022
Story about some kings riding on elephants, dancing and seeing wild animals like monkeys and tigers.
June 26, 2018
Excellent rhythm and word play and the images are batik-style.
April 17, 2012
17 Kings and 42 elephants by Margaret Mahy has a very interesting and creative story line. However, the illustrations are what make the book. The illustrations enhance the text. A reader can easily get lost just looking at the illustrations. The text is embedded into the illustrations so it is easy to do. The reader is looking at the book from birds-eye view. It makes the reader feel like it is looking in and observing the kings journey. The kings' journey is a way for the author to take you through the jungle and introduce you to a wide variety of animals without ever disclosing where these kings are headed. The colors are bright and vibrant which adds to the tone of the book. The end pages are solid green, which lead into the jungle setting.
Read
February 6, 2017Chose because it was mentioned by Marilyn Burns in her math blog. There's nothing inherently mathy about the book, though. In fact, I was only successful at counting 17 kings on one page (I'll admit I never tried to see if all 42 elephants were ever present.)
The made-up words that help keep the rhyme remind me of Dr. Seuss.
The watercolor illustrations feel batik-ish.
The made-up words that help keep the rhyme remind me of Dr. Seuss.
The watercolor illustrations feel batik-ish.
November 28, 2010
The adventures of kings and elephant as they walk through the jungle at night. As they make their journey in a dark wet jungle at night they meet up with something interesting jungle animals.
Students could write about their own adventures that they could do in a dark wet jungle. What animals would they meet up with? What would they do if they did meet up with this animal?
Students could write about their own adventures that they could do in a dark wet jungle. What animals would they meet up with? What would they do if they did meet up with this animal?
October 13, 2010
As always, a wonderful book to read aloud and savour the rich language.
I once read this aloud to a class group of new entrants (so, 5 & 6 year olds) and one little boy looked at me and said 'but it doesn't make sense'. Oh the saddness that he was literal at such a young age, and couldn't appreciate the word play.
I once read this aloud to a class group of new entrants (so, 5 & 6 year olds) and one little boy looked at me and said 'but it doesn't make sense'. Oh the saddness that he was literal at such a young age, and couldn't appreciate the word play.
July 30, 2013
My daughter best stated our shared thoughts on this story the moment we read the last page "Wow, my review can be summed up in one sentence: This book is pointless and stupid, don't read it." While I may not have used that particular phrase, I can't say I disagreed with her either. Some our winners and some are not, this one was not.
April 9, 2009
Although this is an old book (1972) i had never seen it until now. A friend recommended it. I am so glad she did! The rhyme and word choices are delicious and I plan to get a copy of my own so i can study it.
Now I have another rhymer--Margaret Mahy--to recommend to people.
Now I have another rhymer--Margaret Mahy--to recommend to people.
April 14, 2011
Have you ever read something and just known that the author had a ball writing it? That's this book. This is very rhythmic and heavy on word play. It would be good to read this in a chant-like tone. Best for a young or young-at-heart audience. I loved it.
April 3, 2012
Where those kings are headed is a mystery, but no travelers ever had such a jolly time. There are numbers in the title, but this was no way one of my favorite books about math. It was kind of hard to follow and see where math would be integrated.
January 23, 2013
LOVED the text: rhythm, humor and flow. The illustrations are colorful and sprawling over every page in perfect complement to the text. I will be using this to teach language, springboard into theatre scenes with older students and to share love of language & reading!
July 25, 2015
I bought this book as a baby gift for a medical professional who has been very good to me. She adores elephants, and she is currently expecting a child. What could be more delightful than these beautiful silk batik paintings and Mahy's rollicking silly verse?
September 16, 2010
It was alright. It used a lot of larger words that were difficult to understand but that matched the rhyming.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews