The Littlest Elephant

The littlest elephant is always in a rush, and it takes a tiny mouse to show her how to slow down and notice the other jungle creatures in this funny, colourful story from Kate Read.

The bright and richly illustrated pages full of jungle creatures, ranging from a chameleon to a tiger captured the imaginations of our Reception children as they followed the littlest elephant on her way to the pool for a swim. At first Ellie is too excited to notice the chaos she is causing, but then she realizes that by slowing down and helping others, everyone can join in the fun.

The children enjoyed reading the speech bubbles of the different animals in the story and through these and the beautiful illustrations, the children had some great discussions about empathy and the importance of being kind and thoughtful to others.

The animals are illustrated in a such a way that very clearly represents a wide range of different emotions. The children enjoyed talking about these emotions and why they thought the animals were feeling them. The children said that the story reminded them of some of the books written and illustrated by Eric Carle and this lead to an interesting discussion about similarities and differences between the different stories that they have read about animals.

The Littlest Elephant was enjoyed by our children in both EYFS and Key Stage 1.

Suggested Reading Age 3+