Mrs. Elmo of Elephant House - Hardcover

Gr 3-5 Nine episodes in the lives of Seth and Anna, a mouse couple who work as live-in housekeepers for Mrs. Elmo of Elephant House (she's an elephant, naturally). The stories are meant to be funny and slightly satirical but come off instead as flat, labored, and pointless. Younger children who may be attracted by the large print and frequent use of black-and-whiterather smudged and scratchyillustrations, will find that the sophisticated vocabulary puts the book out of their reach. Older readers who may be interested in the satirical view of the master/servant relationship and human foibles depicted by animals will reject the format as being too young for them. Give the younger ones Thornton W. Burgess' ``Mother West Wind'' stories (Little) and direct your older readers to Walter R. Brooks' ``Freddy'' books (Knopf). Lisa Smith, Cold Spring Harbor Library, N.Y.

Copyright 1986 Cahners Business Information, Inc.