Monkey and Elephant Go Gadding

by Carole Lexa Schaefer, Galia Bernstein (Illustrator)

Overview

Monkey and Elephant are out and about in their third adventure. You never know what fun surprises you’ll find when you go gadding!

Monkey and Elephant are very good friends, very good friends with nothing on the agenda. So they decide to go gadding. "Gadding?" said Elephant. "What’s that?" "Gadding," said Monkey, "is walking along, looking around, finding something fun, stopping awhile, then moving on." Along the way, Monkey and Elephant meet up with some old friends, and three new ones, too. Beginning readers will love the antics in this cheerful ode to friendship, family, and the joys of serendipity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763661281
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Series:	Monkey and Elephant Series
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.41(w) x 6.17(h) x 0.44(d)
Lexile:	460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Carole Lexa Schaefer is the author of many acclaimed picture books for children, including Down in the Woods at Sleepytime, illustrated by Vanessa Cabban; The Bora-Bora Dress, illustrated by Catherine Stock; and Big Little Monkey, illustrated by Pierre Pratt. She is also the author of the first two books about Monkey and Elephant. Carole Lexa Schaefer lives on Camano Island, in Washington State.

Galia Bernstein was born and raised in Israel and is the illustrator of many books for children, including Rockin’ Babies by Jenn Berman and Cynthia Weil, The Groovy Letter Book by Melissa and Dolores Neumann, and Monkey and Elephant and Monkey and Elephant Get Better. Galia Bernstein lives in Brooklyn.

Editorial Reviews

05/01/2014
K-Gr 2—As Monkey explains to Elephant, "Gadding is walking along, looking around, finding something fun, stopping awhile, then moving on." And off they go, thrilled by the potential for surprise and adventure. Depicted in rich hues of green for Elephant and purple for Monkey, the two friends have a wide range of expressions despite the suitable simplicity of the cartoon illustrations. Their romp includes a visit to Elephant's old Uncle Phump, a hatmaker who gives each of his guests a gift. Then they unexpectedly bump into Monkey's Cousin MeeMee and her children. The group enjoys swimming and a picnic, and Monkey also models gracious forgiveness when MeeMee's babies eat all the berries off her new straw hat. These pals are reminiscent of other endearing friendship pairs such as Frog and Toad and Elephant and Piggie. This sweet, three-chapter offering begs for even more adventures to satisfy newly independent readers.—Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT

School Library Journal

2014-01-04
All cleaned up but with nowhere to go, Monkey and Elephant go gadding about in this latest installment of their early-reader series. In the first of three brief chapters, Monkey cleans her small pink ears, Elephant cleans his big, blue ears, and they admire how nice they look. In fact, Bernstein's distinctive, digitally rendered characters find themselves so fetching that Monkey declares that they look too nice to stay home. She suggests that they go gadding, which she helpfully defines as "walking along, looking around, finding something fun, stopping awhile, then moving on." In the second chapter, the pair happens upon Elephant's uncle Phump, who has taken up millinery and gives them the delightful opportunity to select hats from his collection. Newly hatted, the friends go gadding again, only to run into Monkey's cousin MeeMee, who surprises them not with a new hobby, but a new family when she introduces them to her three babies. Monkey's hat comes in handy as a cradle of sorts for the little ones when they nap, and then she and Elephant get to have a visit and a snack together with MeeMee before they resume their gadding. A fine addition to a well-established series for new readers. (Early reader. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

Depicted in rich hues of green for Elephant and purple for Monkey, the two friends have a wide range of expressions despite the suitable simplicity of the cartoon illustrations. ... These pals are reminiscent of other endearing friendship pairs such as Frog and Toad and Elephant and Piggie. This sweet, three-chapter offering begs for even more adventures to satisfy newly independent readers.
—School Library Journal

Schaefer’s convivial characters should appeal to emergent readers looking for simple text and low-key plotlines, and Bernstein’s digitally rendered artwork uses a pleasingly unrealistic color palate. ... Give this to graduates of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series who are looking for something with a bit more challenging vocabulary.
—Booklist Online

From the Publisher