Erica's elephant by Sylvia Bishop illustrated by Ashley King

TRONK!

The same book - three covers. Which one do you like? Tronk? This is a word with many meanings. The elephant who arrives cannot speak but somehow she can interpret the word tronk which the elephant uses in every situation.

Uncle Jeff left two years ago. Today Erica is turning ten and there is an elephant on her doorstep. She is delighted but also, as a practical girl, she wonders how she will feed and care for a full sized elephant in this small two-up, two-down townhouse. She discovers elephants need 150 kilograms of food each day. Uncle Jeff did leave Erica some money but after all this time she only has about 30 pounds left.

Luckily for Erica her elephant is a curiosity and kids and adults from around the town are happy to pay for rides and enjoy watching him performing tricks. Unluckily for Erica some people are not pleased to see an elephant living with a young girl. Her neighbour Miss Pritchett complains and then Amy Avis from the Department of Exotic animals arrives with a Notice of Elephant extraction.

How can Erica keep her elephant? Would he be better off in a zoo? Does he miss his herd?

The very best chapter of this book comes right at the end. Miss Pritchett, who is now 103, scolds Erica, who is now a zoology professor.

"You can't just stop there!' she said.
'Why not?' I asked.
'Because it isn't The end,' she scolded me.  ...
We argued about it for a while, and finally agree that I would tell you a little bit about what happened next in an Epilogue, which is a bit like a pudding - you don't need it, but it finishes things off nicely."

Working at our city Children's Hospital Book Bunker this week I spied Erica's elephant.  I knew the name Sylvia Bishop but I couldn't think why.  Now I discover she is the author The Bookshop Girl which I read a couple of years ago and enjoyed.

Here is an excellent Bookbag Review.

Here is an interview with Sylvia Bishop where she talks about elephants and being tall! You can see Sylvia and her illustrator Ashley talking about their book here.

The perfect partner to Erica's Elephant is Zoo boy by Sophie Thompson. An older child might also enjoy Tua and the Elephant. One more book that popped into my mind is Pocket Elephant by Catherine Sefton. This is an old book which is out of print (sadly) but it might be in a school library.