Yellow Elephant by Julie Larios

Genre: Poetry, non-fiction
Interest Level: K - 3


Summary
The poems in this book describe familiar animals. Surprisingly, the elephant is yellow, the puppy is purple, the kitty is pink but the goose is gray and the mouse is brown. The poems do not rhyme but there is a subtle flow in their rhythm to most of these poems. The left-hand pages contain the poems on a background of white space with a small illustration that is similar to the full-page illustration on the right side pages.

Similar Titles
Will Moses' Mother Goose by Will Moses
Eric Carle's animals, animals by Eric Carle

Analysis
Julie Larios’ poems are short and accessible for children. Paschkis' paintings are vibrant and readily recognizable by young children. The alliteration adds to the images of the animals and their personalities. In “Purple Puppy”: “He’s feeling pretty nippy. / Needs to run, maybe.” The verse is descriptive and the illustrations nicely complement the poetry.

Curriculum Connections
The poetry connections show how color and words can create a mood and imagery. In addition, a lesson of bestiaries can be found in this book. A bestiary is a compendium of beasts. In the European middle ages a bestiary was based on a description of certain qualities of an animal, plant, or even a stone usually with a moral lesson.

Awards
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book