Mina JavaherbinCritiques

The author creates a tale about understanding the truth from an anecdote originally written by the Persian poet Rumi. Author’s Note.

This book shares a touching story about the love between a young girl and her grandmother. It would be great to introduce my students to a different culture and see how they can relate to it. The universal love that we share for our families is a great way to make a connection.

Elephant in the Dark is a retelling of a Rumi poem about villagers trying to figure out what a mysterious creature kept in the dark is. The story is set in Persia (current day Iran), and the illustrations are lively and reflective of Persian culture. The illustrations are a huge part of the success of the book. The expressions on faces of the characters bring the story to life. The text is simple but effective. The style of writing is familiar and evocative of the storytelling tradition.

What a lovely tale! This book can be seen as a bit silly at first but after reading the author’s note in the back I really love the message that it is conveying. The villagers try to guess what a new animal is after only touching it in the dark and they are all convinced they are correct. When the animal is revealed they begin to realize that each one of them only had part of the truth. The message is that if we insist on our own ideas without knowing the full story we will also be in the same position as the villagers. Although quite a difficult concept to grasp this story has a fun way of sending the message. Along with the animated drawings of the villagers I can see this book being a hit!

A perfect tale with todays troubles. Can be used by teacher or counselor in the classroom to help with listening to others problems. This original tale was told years ago and has been rewritten many time. The story is about a merchant who buys an elephant and brings it home and stores it for a day in his barn. The story gets out that the merchant brought a grand beast home to the village. However the villagers are not able to see the elephant because the merchant is to tired to show it...He goes to sleep. The villagers will not take no for an answer and they try to see the beast through a small peep hole. The villagers each have their own view of the animal and no one agrees on what it is. They start to squabble about what the animal is and miss seeing the elephant walk to the barn with the merchant. Colorful pictures with children running around and villagers in their authentic Persian clothing. A teacher could use this book to help students understand the importance of seeing all sides of a story rather than just 1 persons point of view. Search for the truth and don't get lost in all the noise.

When the villagers hear of a huge and mysterious beast that has come all the way from India, they steal into the dark barn to see what it is. One is convinced it is a snake (after feeling the trunk) another is convinced its a tree (after feeling the legs) a third is convinced its a fan (after feeling the ears). This adaptation from a Rumi poem is a wonderful reminder to listen to others. We may only have a part of the puzzle, and that by listening we will be able to see the whole picture.

This book is about a village that is very impatient. There is a merchant who brings a surprise back for everyone to see. When the villagers arrive to see the surprise, the merchant is asleep. He tells them to go away and come back tomorrow, as it is too late and too dark. The villagers are impatient and take matters into their own hands. They all take turns going in to the dark cave and using their senses to describe the animal inside. Of course, each of them have a different perception of the elephant, causing them to break out into a huge argument. In the morning, the merchant takes the elephant out of the cave and takes it to the river. The villagers are too bust arguing to notice. They are also too busy arguing to notice that each of them hard part of the truth. This book has beautiful, bright illustrations that really add to the story. This would be a good book to teach children about perception. In the author's note in the back, she talks about how the book shows how each of the villagers perceived the elephant differently. When they were in the dark they couldn't see the bigger picture. This would be a good gateway into a discussion about saying something about someone or a situation without knowing the bigger picture. It would be a good way to teach children that they shouldn't give false information until they know the entire truth.

A merchant brings a big animal to the village. the villagers started to spread the word, and they all rushed to the merchants house to try to see the big animal, but since the merchant didn't listen to them. they all snicked into the house to figure it out on their own. They will all confused with their guesses as what it was. At the end they all know that they animal was an elephant.

This book was about a young underprivileged boy in south africa that receives a soccer ball for good grades in school. While he is ecstatic about his reward, he must be wary of the neighborhood bullies looking to ruin his reward. This story has a great amount of adversity present, but i feel that it is suitable for children to read. It would be another great book to involve in a lesson on morals.

This is a great book to teach children about perceptions. This book has people describing and perceiving the animal in the dark room in various different ways. It shows that if people all had collaborated and combined their ideas together they would have had a better chance of figuring it out together than all arguing and not being open minded for other people suggestions on what the animal might be.

The characters in the story were wearing very traditional clothing. The theme
of this story is to know the entire story before you share what you think you may know. Each person only saw or felt a piece of the elephant and reported that it was something else, a tree, a snake… but in reality it was an elephant and they missed it because they were to busy arguing over who was right. I will be reading this to my class after doing a mystery box and writing activity. Each of their answers will be different as to what they felt, but when put together they could maybe come up with the answer. Genre: Traditional

This book is about children that work together to reach a common goal.

This is a book thats based on a poem by Rumi. Its a persian poem that the author translated into english. This story is about a merchant who brings a mysterious big creature from India. Everyone in the village were so curious, but the merchant woudlnt show him becasue he was so tired. Evetually, one at a time, a villagers went in to find their own versions of what the animal was like.

Paulo Marcelo Feliciano has dreams of being a famous soccer player one day. For now, he practices hard with his team and little sister. Today his mother has left enough cheese buns for him to give to all of his teammates. After dropping his sister off at school, he brings the cheesy treats to each of his friends, who all have unique jobs around the city. Eventually he has to go to work himself, helping Senhor da Silva fish. At the end of a long day it's finally time for soccer practice! Paulo's little sister is constantly begging to play soccer with her older brother, but is consistently told that no girls are allowed on their team. A few minutes into the game their goalie injures his wrist and Paulo votes to let his sister take his place. Maria jumps in and stuns everyone with her amazing playing, showing them all that girls can play soccer too!
For me, the illustrations were the best part of this book. They were so big and descriptive, perfectly bringing the story to life. They were exactly what I would have pictured in my mind had they not been there.½

After researching, I found this book was inspired by a poem by Rumi. It is enlightening and witty.

This story is based off of a poem by Rumi. A merchant brings a mysterious creature from India and the villagers cannot wait until morning to see the beast. They sneak into the dark, each one describing just a part of the elephant and claiming it to be like a snake, tree trunk, fan, paintbrush, etc. They argue all through the night not realizing that each element of what they've seen makes up the bigger picture. They are so engulfed in arguing that they don't even notice the merchant walk by with the elephant in the morning.

This is an Indian folktale with messages about perception and strong beliefs. It begins with a merchant bringing a creature from India to a small Persian village, where townspeople are curious to find out what the creature is. The merchant puts it in a dark barn until morning, and during the night villagers sneak in and all touch a different part of the creature trying to figure out what it is. In the morning, everyone is too distracted with their gossip to notice the merchant leading his elephant out.

The abrupt ending to this story caught me off guard, but I was otherwise very impressed with the story. The visuals are cartoon-y and modern while keeping in touch with traditional styles and staying true to the culture. The "less is more" take on the story adds to the imaginative nature of the story. I enjoyed the message that knowing the truth is not the same as knowing the whole truth.

The story of a strange new creature brought from india, which turns out to be an elephant. But in the dark, everyone has a different thought.

The story shows you why it is so important to be patient and get the whole story. Everyone has their own point of view and feel like its the only right one, which creates disagreements and distracting people from the truth.

What a beautiful story of hope, children, and the beauty of playing! I was amazed at how life like the art was. I liked reading a story from the setting of South Africa.

Merchant Ahmed brings a mysterious creature from India to Persia. All the village people want to see the animal but Ahmed is too tired and says no. So, all the people sneak into the barn where the animal is one by one. Each one ends up feeling or hearing a different part of the animal, and comparing said part to different animals. They begin to argue about what the animal could be because of this. In the end Ahmed leads the elephant to the river to drink water and all the village people see what animal it is and that they were all partly right.

Based upon a portion of a poem by Rumi, the author tells the story of Merchant Ahmad who brings an elephant to his home country from India. Rather than waiting until morning to meet the elephant, the villagers, against the wishes of Ahmad, sneak into the barn and try to guess the animals identify, while only feeling a small part of his body. The villagers don't work together, but instead begin arguing and fighting as they are each sure they know the identity of what is in the barn, even thought they each hold only a small piece of the puzzle. The illustrator has researched other Persian artists, and is able to create culturally appropriate pictures that are at once accurate to the time and culture and delightful. What a wonderful book for teaching community and communication.

A re-imagining of Rumi's poem. A story of children touching the elephant in the dark and only understands what they touch. It shows how everyone's perception is different in the dark.

Set in a poor and dusty part of South Africa, this book tells the story of a young boy who had just received a new soccerball for being an outstanding reader in his class. Although very eager to play with it and to share with his friends, they must all be wary of the bullies on the street who try to ruin their plans. This is a great book that talks about how friendship can overcome bullies, and the people who stand in the way of your dreams.

This book revolves around friendship to overcome the bullies in a neighborhood. Friendship is a very vital part of being able to overcome others who bully. Also, it is good for students to be exposed to the culture in this book, and understand that bullying happens all over the world.

Realistic Fiction
Reading Level: 2.7