PreSchool-Grade 1—This new take on the Indian fable about the blind man and the elephant features an unlikely but appealing combination of animals. Turtle, Bat, Octopus, Bird, and Goat, asleep in their hammock, are disturbed one night by a noise. Each in turn investigates: Turtle finds a foot like his, except "super big," Bat thinks she finds a "superduper wing," Octopus discovers a tentacle similar to his, but longer, and so on. Finally they realize that it is only Elephant. With simple wording, Rinck injects personality into each animal and van der Linden's images interact well with the text. His stark black backgrounds spotlight expressively imagined animals that appear in psychedelic colors and patterns reminiscent of a kaleidoscope. The large art makes the book an ideal read-aloud; after several re-readings, children are sure to join in on the "superduper" responses of the characters. A silly but clever twist at the story's close provides a "what happens next?" discussion opportunity.
