Elephant Joes Offers Laughs for All Ages
Perhaps best known as an illustrator, David Wojtowycz has done a great job with writing and illustrating a fun and funky children’s book that captured our imagination and left us laughing. Elephant Joe, Brave Knight! is the story of an elephant and his trusty sidekick Zebra Pete who must save the king’s crown from the Dark Knight.
Together these two friends jump on horses, travel through the Enchanted Forest, and find a damsel in distress inside the Dark Knight’s tower. Although the tower is guarded by a dragon, they are permitted to pass when they ask the dragon nicely and say please. (Way to go Wojtowycz for sneaking some good manners into this silly story.)
Elephant Joe, Brave Knight! was filled with many silly surprises, from the true identity of the damsel in distress to the fact that the Dark Knight (who is a crocodile) can’t swim! And the Dark Knight’s punishment is just plain silly too. (She has to kiss the little green frog who hopes to be turned into a prince. You’ll have to read the book to see if that wish comes true or not.) My two and four year old children were giggling constantly as we read together.
I especially enjoyed the humorous (to an adult or older child) comments from a little green frog. For example, on the title page the little frog adds: “A tale of knightly chivalrousness.” And as Elephant Joe and Zebra Pete are climbing up tower steps to save a damsel in distress the frog warns us by saying, “I hope this isn’t a trick.” (Which of course it was.) A little added humor for the adult reading the book is a good thing!
After reading this fun, light hearted story with my children I was pleased to discover through a quick online search that there are other Elephant Joe books. They include Elephant Joe is a Spaceman and Elephant Joe is a Pirate. We’ll be checking those books out next!
Elephant Joe, Brave Knight!
by David Wojtowycz
Price: $12.74 on amazon.com
| Easy to Read |
5 |
| Quality of Illustrations |
5 |
| Appealed to Both Boys and Girls | 5 |
| Kept My Children’s Interest | 5 |
| I Would Purchase This Product for My Family | yes |
| I Would Purchase This Product as a Gift | yes |
| Overall rating | 5 |
All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.
Meet the Reviewer!
Janice Richardson is an elementary
school teacher turned stay-at-home
mom of three energetic little ones,
ages 4, 2 and 5 months. She enjoys
playing with her family, being outdoors,
and eating chocolate. Janice blogs
about some of the activities she and her
children enjoy at babybrainstorm.blogspot.com.
One of her goals is to someday visit
each of the 50 states and each continent.
