Run, elephant, run by Patricia MacCarthy

I picked this picture book up at my local library today.  Run, elephant, run - an Indonesian rainforest adventure is a little outside the scope of books I usually talk about but I really liked the onomatopoeic style and the lively illustrations so I will talk about it here because this would be a lovely book to buy as a gift for a very young child and yes this is a very new book so it should be easy to find.

The storm is coming, the herd are on the move, little elephant is afraid but he sticks close to his mother.  A huge, old tree falls down and little elephant is separated from his mother and the herd. Now he needs to run for his life because a tiger is headed his way. As the rain becomes heavier and heavier the chase accelerates then just as it seems the tiger will pounce little elephant slides down a muddy slope and bumps straight into his mother. She trumpets and stamps her big feet and the tiger turns to run for his life.

If you need a book about rain this one is perfect.  So many words to describe the way rain sounds and feels. These words show a how the best picture books are actually poetry.

spit spot spit spot
pitter patter pitter patter
rattle rattle rattle rattle
drumming drumming drumming
whoosh swoosh whoosh swoosh
pitter-patter spit spot spot spot


If you need a book about rainforest animals this book is perfect. On the last page thirty five are revealed and then you can go back and try to spot them in the book. Exotic sounding animals such as the red leaf monkey, Javan banded pitta, Sunda Sambar deer, pygmy tasier, mouse-deer and the Asian Tapir.

Make sure you check the end papers - you know I love them and in this book we see the storm beginning and ending which is of course the perfect way to bookend this story.

Here are two other books in our school library with illustrations by UK illustrator Patricia MacCarthy.  I was excited to see she is the illustrator of several books by the wonderful New Zealand writer Margaret Mahy including 17 Kings and 42 Elephants.  I was not familiar with this UK Publisher Otter-Barry but I recommend you take a look at their web site.