Try these tales of friendships

O ne of the fascinating animals of our world is the elephant. I find it intriguing that there are two species spread out across the world. How did they get separated and yet stay so nearly the same?

Have you thought about what it would be like to work at an “elephantery”? Elephant day care?

I didn’t know there was such a thing until I read “Mr.

Elephanter,” brought to us by Lark Pien.

We join Mr. Elephanter on his way to work. His job is to take care of the Elephanties at the Elephantery. We watch as he fixes breakfast (pancakes) for the three little ones, then takes them to the local swimming pool and a walk through the city streets. Then they go into the park and the zoo, where they meet an old friend, a big elephant, a graduate.

After a nice visit, they are back home and trouble comes before they settle down for a nap. During the nap, Mr. Elephanter cleans up, and when the little ones awake, they play until it is time for him to go home.

Farewells are made and he heads home. His routine before he goes to work is on the inside of the front cover, and on the inside back cover, we find his going-to-bed routine. Neat use of inside covers.

In “Oliver’s Tree,” brought to us by Kit Chase, we meet three friends — Oliver, a little elephant; Lulu, a little squirrel; and Charlie, a little rabbit. They have a great time playing in the woods, hide and seek, until Lulu climbs up in a tree and Oliver can’t reach her to tag her.

Discussion ensues and they set out to find him a tree that he can climb.

Their first find is too small. Oliver bends it way down. The next one has stronger branches but they are too far up the tree for him to reach. The next tree is perfect. It has a strong branch that reaches almost to the ground. Oliver promptly climbs up on it, and it’s great until — crash — it breaks.

Discouraged, Oliver leaves his friends and goes off to mourn and falls asleep. While he is napping, his friends devise a ground level “tree house” for him based in a large stump. They can all play in this “tree.”

Every problem has a solution.

“Monkey And Elephant

Go Gadding,” by Carole Lexa Schaefer, is another story of friendship. Monkey wants to go “gadding,” but Elephant doesn’t know what that means. Monkey explains that it means to walk along and look around and see what you can see.

We follow them as they decide what they are doing, start out and find Uncle Phump. They visit, get some cool hats to wear and set out again. This time they meet Cousin MeeMee and her three babies. They enjoy visiting and playing together until it is time to go home. Elephant agrees with Monkey that gadding is great.

This is a delightful beginning reading chapter book.