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The Pink Elephant is the first in a new series of children's stories known as The Adventures of Poppy and Bobo. The series is by author John Evans and illustrator Nicola Anne.
Blurb: Poppy and Bobo make a new friend at the circus, the pink elephant. But their friend vanishes at the end of the show. Poppy and Bobo decide to investigate the disappearance of the pink elephant and discover that the circus is a far more magical place than they ever thought
The story starts with Poppy, a little girl, telling her friend Bobo, a soft toy, about her visit to the circus. She tells him how she and the other children met a pink elephant but after the show, couldn't find him. Bobo, who to Poppy is real, suggests they go to the circus again to try and find the pink elephant. When they can't and Poppy cries, they are found by a clown who, when they ask why they can't find the pink elephant, tells them a secret. Every night, the pink elephant goes home to his family and comes back for the show the next day. Poppy meets the pink elephant again and is happy to know he hasn't gone for good.
The story is written in the first-person narrative from Poppy's point of view. It is written in a rhyming style as a poem The book itself is 32 pages long. Each pair of pages is a single picture of the scene happening in the story. On the first page of two is a verse of the story. It is essentially a poem telling the story of Poppy and Bobo's encounter with the pink elephant. It is simple but engaging. The story itself is easy to follow and the pictures are very colourful. It is aimed at children of pre-school age and meant to be read aloud. Slightly older children may enjoy it.
The writing style is reminiscent of Julia Donaldson (purely because of the rhyming) and the illustrations are clear and colourful. All in all, I found it a good children's book and am interested what adventures await Poppy and Bobo in the next installment.
This book is available to purchase from Amazon
