The author of Monkey Truck (Holt, 2011) takes his characters to the skies with the highly versatile and helpful Elecopter, an elephant blessed with the main rotor, tail rotor, and landing skids of a helicopter.” —School Library Journal
“Ahh! The cuteness! It blinds! Well, that's what you get when you take a rotund, big-eyed baby elephant, give her landing gear and helicopter blades, and send her into the savanna to save animals. Kids will instinctively get it and probably love it.” —Booklist
“Giggle-inducing humor and nail-biting action...” —Publishers Weekly
“My three-year-old loves Michael Slack's new picture book Monkey Truck. . . . The artwork is great, colorful and elaborated with lots of details that are fun to talk about during storytime. All told, it's a darned fun storytime treat.” —Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.com on Monkey Truck
“The bright, blocky and, above all, goofy digitally painted illustrations will grab attention, and Monkey Truck's hooting mug (and tooting bottom) will keep the giggles flowing. Hope for more from this outrageous imagination.” —Kirkus Reviews on Monkey Truck
“Slack's choppy, rhyming text is propelled by sound effects and exclamations that enhance the book's read-aloud appeal. . . . A slight yet spirited romp.” —Publishers Weekly on Monkey Truck
“Slack's digitally rendered artwork is abundant with enjoyable texture and detail . . . and the jungle citizens are remarkably expressive.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books on Monkey Truck
Who keeps the savanna and its animals safe? Elecopter! "She scans the savannah / from high above. // Patrolling the sky, / it's a labor of love." A chubby blue elephant with landing skids for feet and propellers on top and tail, Elecopter saves baby birds from electrical storms. She rescues a lion (blinded by an out-of-control mane) from walking off a cliff (and then gives him a mane cut with his rotors). She even helps giraffes with loose teeth. When she sees a billowing cloud of smoke and a fire in the distance, she snags her ladder and her rope and speeds off to help. "She scoops up cheetah / alone and marooned. // Then lowers a ladder / to the stranded baboons." She saves those in danger and then puts out the fire with her hose nose. "Working for peanuts, / she's quite the contraption. / A helicopter elephant / always ready for action." Slack's follow-up to Monkey Truck (2011) moves from the jungle to the savanna for more animal/machine mashup mayhem. The digitally painted illustrations are bright and zippy. Elecopter's the only character who's part machine, and her helpfulness will inspire. Less of a laugh riot than Slack's previous solo effort, this will nonetheless please children by offering animals, vehicles and heroics all in one. "Go, Elecopter! Go!" (Picture book. 2-5)
