The narrator is sure Zola's clubhouse is "very cozy with pillows and curtains and a carpet of stars.
Hearing hammering, she imagines Zola and her elephant are building a clubhouse in reality, an adult is assembling furniture while Zola holds her hands over her ears. This back and forth continues as the reader is shown the glorious, fanciful scenes the narrator's mind creates as she comes up with excuses to not go meet Zola and her elephant. With the next page turn, we are again back in the world of imagination. Zola sits alone, using the big box as a table for her toast and tea. The glorious colors are gone, replaced by doleful blues and grays. Lots of toast." But the next page turn shows the reader what's really happening. I know Zola's feeding her elephant now because I smell toast. The nebula-like palette continues onto the next spread as the Zola she imagines throws slices of toast to her elephant: "You also need to feed your elephant as soon as it arrives.
An otherworldly star chart overlays, with words like "magic" or "believe" in place of the more common words like "equator" or "elliptic." The acrylic-on-wood illustration depicts her imaginary world in the colors of a nebula, everything in shades of blue, green and gold. Peering through the window, the girl imagines an elephant curled up inside the enormous box. I know because I saw the big box." One might wonder what kind of friend would arrive in a "big box" but the girl is certain she knows what it is: "You need a big box to move your elephant." I know because our mothers met this morning and decided we should be friends. "There’s a new girl next door," the girl's narration begins. The new next-door neighbors stand in front of a massive stack of boxes while, in the background, two movers struggle with a large crate marked "fragile." A mini, apple-cheeked Pierrot, the girl is dressed whimsically in harlequin-style red-and-white checked pants and a ruffled collar, holding a toy elephant wearing a red-and-white striped hat identical to the one atop her pigtails. Intricate and beautiful, Zola's Elephant displays a perfect balance of text and illustration while asking all readers to remember that what we think isn't necessarily what is true.Ī young girl looks out the window at a family moving in next door. In Randall de Sève and Pamela Zagarenski's first picture book collaboration, a nameless young girl imagines that her next-door neighbor lives in a stunning, vibrant world.
0 kommentar(er)
