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Reviewed by Liz Konkel for Readers' Favorite
The Legend of the Sleep-Eating Elephant by Nocola Williams is a sweet children’s story with an endearing message and themes of coexistence between humans and animals. Elephant has the important job of helping a village of growers tend to the garden and is responsible for watering the crops. One day he notices a cabbage is missing but doesn’t worry about it until pollination day arrives and the bees notice even more are missing. This means that the village has a thief. Humans and animals band together to find the culprit, and the answer is surprising. They must develop a plan to keep the culprit out of the garden and find a way to stop any more cabbages from being taken. This story focuses on coexistence and shows how one creature can make a huge impact with inspiration derived from Dr. Lucy King, a zoologist who has conducted studies on honeybees and elephant interaction.
The illustrations show the personified nature of the animals, specifically the elephant. Each of the animals has animated expressions so it is easy to see how they feel and what they’re thinking. The images also show the harmony between animals and humans in ways that are easy for children to discern. These show everyone working together to tend to the garden and figure out who is taking the cabbages. There are humorous moments that children will enjoy and will keep them entertained all the way through. The inspiration for the story is a great way to teach children about the interaction between animals, specifically elephants and honeybees, and humans. This is cleverly woven into the story as the honeybees are used to wake the elephant up whenever he sleep-walks his way toward the garden. The Legend of the Sleep-Eating Elephant by Nocola Williams is a unique children’s book that offers something new with a lesson of coexistence at the core, inspiration drawn from real life, and plenty of humor.
