Customer Reviews

The Elephant and the Bad Baby

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is just a silly little book about the journey of a bad baby who is ungrateful. It provided a lasting memory for my Father and I because he puts himself in character when he reads. I am 28 and I remember my dad reading this to me when I was 5,6,7 ect. This year for Christmas I found a copy of the book and gave it to him. He was overjoyed and sat right down to read it to me. Even at 28 it is a memory that will never leave me.

This book was one of the first books i ever read. I was 6 years old then, now i'm 35. I loved the elephant's "rumpita, rumpita, rumpita"ing all through the town. I have shared this book with my three children who love it just as i did. It is a bit dated now, but so are most books that are this old. Times change. I still can recite it almost word for word from my memory. This is a classic and hopefully i can share this book with my grandchildren one day.

The very joy in reading this book to young children is the outrageous silliness - it is indeed absurd that a baby would be bad or that an elephant would shoplift with abandon, but my own children literally loved this book to pieces, and now they want to 'rumpeta' through the pages with their own kids.

What a fantastic book! This is one of our perennial read-aloud favourites. As a previous reviewer points out, it IS a little strange; in our house, that's what makes it stand out from the run of the mill. You never know exactly WHY the baby is called a "bad baby" even before the story begins -- but that makes it even more intriguing for kids.

And of course, the art does look dated and peculiar, and the words ("crisps," "sweet shop") are all kind of funny to my kids. Also, because we're Jewish, when I read it, I say "meat store man" instead of "pork butcher," so as not to offend my kids' kosher sensibilities! But all of these quirks just make it more fun to read and -- judging from their reactions -- all the more fun to listen to.

The story is straightforward and fun -- a baby and its kleptomaniac elephant friend go out for a romp on the town, a romp which culminates when the elephant decides that the baby is not polite enough and must be brought home for pancakes. That's the basic plot, but it is thrillingly executed in a classic style.

We have been taking this book out of the library regularly for years, and my only fear is that we and other fans of this book will eventually wear out their single copy -- leaving us without this one-of-a-kind gem!!!

This is a wonderful book which I have had since I was very young. I always loved it being read to me and is now a firm favourite with children I babysit for.

The baby doesn't say please whenever the Elephant asks if he wants anything from the various exciting looking shops they pass. The shopkeeper from each shop they take food from chases the Elephant and the bad baby down the street. Eventually, the Elephant realises that the baby has never once said please and takes the baby off his back. The shopkeepers all bump into the Elephant and end up in a heap on the floor with spectacles, shoes, aprons etc. everywhere! The baby is sat on the floor with all the pieces of half eaten food around him. The baby is sad and says "I want to go home to my Mummy - Please" The Elephant takes the baby home and the shopkeepers, Elephant and the bad baby all have pancakes at the bad baby's house. The bad baby goes to bed and the Elephant goes rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta back home with the shopkeepers in tow.

A wonderful book well worth reading!

This is one of the few books I remember from childhood, and now that I am a parent I had to get it for my kids too!

This work has been around for about forty-two years now, being first published in 1969. (Wow, where does time go?) I will be the first to admit that some might observe that the illustrations here are sort of "dated," but if you really think about it you could say the same of Beatrix Potter's work; it is all in the mind and eye of the beholder. One of the reasons for my writing this review of this older gem is that I would hate to see the book fall into compete neglect. This is one of those works that needs to be reprinted as it is fully capable of bringing pleasure to the kids of today as it did when it was first published.

The story is simple and is one of those cumulative stories of which so many have become classics now. (Think of The Ginger Bread Man). A baby; a bad baby is taken for a ride on an elephant and the two go crashing through the local village helping themselves to what ever they want. As they rampage though shop after shop they are chased by the shopkeepers and townspeople until they have quite a group following them.

Now here is something you must keep in mind when reading this story. It is a silly story and the sight of an elephant with a baby on its back rumbling ("rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta down the road") is actually pretty funny in its silliness and due to the setting, almost surreal. The age group that is the targeted by this book are not stupid! Kids that age are quite capable of noting the ridiculousness of a situation (more so than adults at times...it would seem to me), and they get an absolute hoot out of this.

Of course there is a moral to the story when the bad baby finds in the end that all he or she has to do is say "please," and all is well; that is all the shopkeepers and villagers wanted in the first place. They all get a good pancake dinner in the end...including the elephant.

This is a wonderful book to join with as you can almost sing the cumulative refrain and then point out, or have your child point out, all the little details like the plethora of items the shopkeepers drop during the chase. This is fun!

Yes, this one is a classic in it own way and I do hope it will be around for a long, long time. I can see by the other reviews here that there are a lot of adults that fondly remember this one from their childhood. It is good to pass a book like this along to the next generation.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

A dear friend and preschool teacher gave this book to my 3 year old daughter when we had a new baby-- She said- "preschoolers and toddlers are always in trouble and the baby never is--- so they love the idea of a bad baby!" My daughter loved it, and when she had her second child I brought out the same scotch-taped book to read to her 2 1/1 year old. He requests it be read to him at every opportunity.

If you have a new baby at home get this for your preschooler and see how much they appreciate the repetition and humor!

This was absolutely the favourite read aloud in the preschool play group my oldest son attended in the late 70's in Toronto. I just searched for & bought a copy for that son's first son and my first grandson. I was very happy to find used clean copies available on Amazon. I read it aloud to our dogs before packing it up to send to the baby, and they LOVED it. It a wonderful read aloud for kids from six months up, and the illustrations by Raymond Briggs are gorgeous. I don't know if Penguin still holds the copyright but they definitely should think about re-issuing it!

As a mom/parent of 4 Very gifted children, we went through books like cookies... This book is a wonderful and ridiculous story, which includes detailed enough illustrations, and a basic enough plot, that we could embellish, or not, as we chose. My husband reading this aloud was pallitive to my ears, and the children all relished his renditions immensely. 19 years down the road we are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to read it to our grandchildren (eventually...) For our younger children (5 & 10 years younger respectively) we had to "borrow" the book from the library and tell them we lost it - and paid for it - so we could have a copy!

A MUST HAVE!!!