A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes

Image courtesy of author

This week’s guest contributor is Kahla Gubanich, a children’s and maker librarian at Carroll County Public Library in Maryland.

Book cover of A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes’ newest picture book, A Parade of Elephants, opens with a bold invitation: “Look! Elephants!” That simple sentence is a solid hook, because honestly, who could not look after that exclamation? In the following pages, a colorful parade of elephants marches around in a circle, up and down hills, over splashing rivers and under lush treetops, in and out of tunnels. They march all day, and when night falls, they yawn and stretch in preparation for bed. But just before they settle, they lift their trunks to the sky and trumpet, filling the night sky with stars.

Image of elephants walking in a circle from A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes

The plot is simple: For the bulk of the book, the elephants are marching. The details lie in how they march. One page describes the round elephants moving in a round circle, while another shows the elephants moving in and out of a tunnel. This simplicity allows very young readers to focus on the basic idea of each page as they decipher the words. The large, bold text stands out cleanly against the white and pastel pink backgrounds. Simple sentences are often composed of only two words (“Over, under”), or include multiple repetitions of a single word (“Big and round and round they are”). The rhythm and repetition even suggest the slow, steady thump of marching elephant feet. The uncluttered illustrations in soothing pastel colors mirror the action portrayed in the text, giving young readers visual support to help them interpret the words.

This story is very much written in the voice of its intended audience, from that opening invitation (“Look! Elephants!”) to the simple two-word descriptions (“Up, Down”) to the multiple repetitions of single words (“They march and they march and they march”). I imagine that if I gave a young child a wordless version of this picture book, their invented story would likely closely resemble the actual text. Even so, there are still opportunities for new vocabulary near the end, when the elephants raise their trunks and trumpet.

Image of elephants trumpeting stars from A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes

The grace of this simple story exists in the minor details of the illustrations: The baby elephant at the back of the parade stretches out a tiny trunk to grab the tail of the larger elephant ahead; the yellow elephant second in line strides forward with extended trunk and tail, full of purpose, while the purple elephant tucked in the middle seems more contemplative. Readers of all ages will delight at the page turn that reveals a row of five elephant back sides, standing still for the first time as they gaze at the moon, and again when five elephants yawn and stretch before bed.

Image of elephants yawning and stretching from A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes

As with so many of Kevin Henkes’ other works that children, parents, and librarians have fallen in love with over the years, A Parade of Elephants is a seemingly simple story that masks its rich complexity and holds up very well to multiple readings. Young readers can build confidence with this book, and at the end of the day, there is nothing quite like an elephant to win over the hearts of readers of all ages.