Elephants Books

Any child who has ever felt that he or she doesn't fit in somehow will get a secret charge out of reading Maud and Miska Petersham's wonderful and empathetic "The Circus Baby."

Mama Elephant so admires her friends the clown family that she decides that Baby Elephant should emulate them--to the point of sitting in a chair and using a spoon while eating. Of course Baby Elephant has a terribly difficult time with this, to the point that he inadvertently topples over the clown family's tent! All is forgiven, and Mama Elephant lets Baby be himself.

The Petershams' illustrations are even better than the sweet text. Giving off a wonderful 1930s visual flavor, they employ sure lines and bright colors to heighten the circus atmosphere. All in all, a delight!

This is a very concise, common sense, and well written book on the basic elements of a business and how they must be integrated in order for that business to be profitable and successful.

As an seasoned executive, I liked this book because of its simplicity. The author states that any business or organization can be broken down into five distinct dimensions ... people, strategy/leadership, internal factors, external factors, and capital. Each of these dimensions are clearly explained with effective examples from the author's experience. These are applied to the metaphors of cookie production and discovering elephants, which the author uses effectively throughout the book as a unifying theme. I found the section on capital particularly valuable as it introduced a number of key financial concepts and tools that many managers not trained in finance may not have been exposed to.

I think that there are several audiences or reader segments for this book. First might be recent college graduates working in a business environment who may not have had any business training (eg, engineers). (I have had my son who is studying engineering in college read this book). A second audience might be for professional development or training of experience business people, e.g., pre-meeting required reading to get all participants looking at their business from the perspective of its fundamentals and what defines success.

Don't Leave an Elephant to Go and Chase a Bird is a wonderfully crafted kind-hearted tale. The author quickly moves you through the adventures of Anancy the spiderman. Anancy goes from one person to the next exchanging items. His trip and the transition and exchange from one person to the next is so rhythmical, that I can almost hear drums and music as Anancy travels along. I enjoyed this book from cover to cover with such a light story and illustrations, which are influenced by traditional African art themes. Although crafted for a child, this story, a Ghanaian folk tale has a rich heritage.

"Eating the Elephant" appeals to our higher calling as rational beings to reconcile realities of existence. Troubled by inconsistencies in application of knowledge, author John Mangano sits down with us to chat about `life as we know it.' What becomes evident in reminiscing snapshots that no longer make sense is the keenness to change one's thinking to the betterment of the individual and society.

Issues in religion and science that beg for responsible sense-making without censure come together in a series of vignettes compiled from the laboratory of life.

Entertaining and heady, this is an honest work by a learn-ed man who still cares... the perfect exercise to stimulate apologetics thinkers and skeptics alike. "Eating the Elephant" provides the questions...you become the solution. My recommendation: 'Don't bite off more than you can chew.'

I really enjoyed this book. The two brothers in this book go searching for the "White Elephant". I used to read this series when I was young and I find myself wanting to read them ALL again...

Maung Po is his father's third son. At the beginning of the book Burma is in a war, and Maung Po and his elephant have an important part to play.
Maung Po learns many things, makes sacrifices, discovers new priorities as he matures, and learns what really matters before he returns to his village after the way.

Very good story for children about 10-12

I used this book to introduce my 3rd grade art class to India and Indian culture. It could be used for younger children, but it does a good job of giving the basic flavor of India to the reader. It's very quick and simple, and the illustrations are playful and fun.

This is another great book of children's poems by Bagert. The poems make you laugh and think and are wonderful read-alouds. Written with the young performer in mind, they seem just like something kids would think about. This is the second of his books we've giggled our way through and have recommended them to many friend and teachers. It's well worth the time.

Just recently I visited Brooklyn, NY and picked up "An Elephant In Wyoming" by local author, Matt Mihovich. This quick and engaging read is the story of one man who documents his very personal & solitary journey...a journey all of us will take. The points of reference weaved so artistically into the story are so specific to a generation that I could not help but chuckle at what I thought were memories meaning something to only me. Mr. Mihovich keeps the reader turning the pages as his hero bears his soul and seeks to make sense of his life in a flipant rear view observation revealing satisfaction and also with confessional style regret peppered with stark confusion of why he did certain things the way he did. This creative and insightful book will stay with you in a reflective sort of way for a very long time.

In this fun board book, the story of Noah's ark is told from the perspective of Elephant, who hates rain but helps to build the Ark. Young readers will enjoy hearing this story from a different perspective. A reference at the end of the book directs readers to the Bible reference for the Genesis version of the story.