Humperdink Our Elephant Friend

This is a sweet picture book perfect for pre schoolers because that’s where it is set. A little elephant has joined a pre school and obviously wants to join in with all the fun. The book explains how their play works, then the Humperdink the elephants joins pre school and their play becomes a bit tricky. He can’t really do the things they can and when he does it all goes a bit wrong: ‘His big bottom squashed Ryan’s favourite hat.’ for example. However the children decide to go with the things Humperdink likes to do and
they enter his world which is full of even more adventure.

Claire Alexander’s illustrations lend a whimsical feel to the book as they have a sketchy style which gives lovely movement to the pages. The colours are beautiful and, again, give lots of flow in a water colour style. The scenes perfectly capture life inside a pre school setting with lots of different activities like painting, dressing up, building blocks so there are lots of recognisable elements for young children to identify with. Language is simple and perfect for reading aloud with a younger child and definitely for sharing in a pre school setting. It’s also a good one for helping small children understand it’s good to include everybody and explore everybody’s interests as, that way, it is much more adventurous.