{"id":42962,"date":"2025-04-01T06:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T10:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeemedreader.com\/?p=42962"},"modified":"2025-06-20T14:52:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T18:52:24","slug":"how-elegant-the-elephant-by-mary-ann-hoberman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeemedreader.com\/how-elegant-the-elephant-by-mary-ann-hoberman\/","title":{"rendered":"*How Elegant the Elephant by Mary Ann Hoberman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How Elegant the Elephant teams a beloved poet with a Caldecott-honor author to create a winning collection of animal poems.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*How Elegant the Elephant: Poems about Animals and Insects<\/em> by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Marla Frazee. Little, Brown, 2025, 79 pages.<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Reading Level<\/strong>: Picture Book, ages 4-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended for<\/strong>: ages 3-10 as a read-aloud; 7-up for independent readers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her Introduction, Mary Ann Hoberman reflects on her lifelong fascination with the animal world, which provided most of the material for her writing career. \u201cMy body of work spans over six decades, and for this collection, I gathered my favorite poems about animals and bugs from earlier works no longer in print,\u201d as well as eight original poems. How Elegant the Elephant<\/em> was planned and executed with Ms. Hoberman\u2019s end in view, for she passed away in 2023. She was delighted when her friend and sometime collaborator Marla Frazee signed on as illustrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a delightful collection, both in text and art. The author recommends saying \u201can entire poem to yourself again and again, [until] you start to feel why the poet chose particular sounds and cadences.\u201d That\u2019s good advice for some these quirky verses, such as the Brachiosaurus: \u201cThis dinosaur is now extinct \/ While I am still extant. \/ I\u2019d like to bring it back alive. \/ (Unhappily I can\u2019t.)\u201d Or the giraffe: \u201cOne half \/ of the giraffe is neck. \/ The other half \/ is not. \/ Now, necks \/ that are \/ a half of you \/ are really \/ quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whimsical illustrations help lead the reader from one poem to another and are worth closer examination on their own. Watch for the squirrels in bellhop uniforms (they work at the squirrel hotel, of course, but appear throughout the book). In the penultimate illustration, a hippo photographer has posed all the animals who appear in the book in front of a giant globe (see how many you can name!). On the very last page, an elegant elephant hugs a startled zebra over the words, \u201cThank you, Mary Ann Hoberman.\u201d This is a fitting final page to a six-decade career, and a treasure for the family bookshelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom Line<\/strong>: Whimsical, lyrical verses to appeal to a child\u2019s fascination with animals, and a perfect browseable read-aloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also at Redeemed Reader:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n