British duo Bruce Robinson and Sophie Windham (writer-husband and illustrator-wife, respectively) team up here to poke and prod at an out-of-nowhere elephant, a poor old pachyderm who doesn't even know what he is.

But then again, neither does anyone else in the town: "One day the people awoke to find an Elephant sitting bewildered in the main square, mopping his brow with a red spotted handkerchief and wondering how he got there." But a boy named Eric, "who was seven and three-quarters and known for telling Tall Stories"--does know what this creature is, but no one seems to be listening. Everyone in town ends up guessing at the identity and function of this strange beast--the Train Driver connects him to a train, the Fireman uses him to fight a fire, the Garbage Collector sends him out to vacuum garbage until the Elephant nearly bursts. But in the end Eric prevails, with the help of the scatterbrained Professor. ("'But what does it do?' they asked. 'It does nothing!' cried Eric. 'It simply is an elephant.' 'Yes, of the long-nosed variety,' added the Professor.")

Children will find Robinson's building, repetitive structure fun to follow, but it's the details from Windham (Unicorns! Unicorns!) that carry the day in this silly story. From the Professor's chalk scribblings to a dozen-odd throwaway animal cameos (like three cute bears climbing over the moon and a fire-watching pelican), every illustration deserves a long linger.

This endearing nonsense tale from a British husband-and-wife team concerns an unknown gray object found sitting in the village square. "Maybe it wants plugging in?" one villager says. "Look at that nozzle on him.... What's that for?" says another. Windham's (Unicorns! Unicorns!) cast resembles wooden dolls, with round heads and stiff hands there's even a solemn king and queen and they bustle about importantly as they work to solve the riddle of the thing's identity. The Train Driver decides the object is a railway engine and hitches it up to a train, but the mystery guest does not like coal "I like buns and cakes." The timid pachyderm seems to press against the very edges of the illustrations, and swells to alarming proportions when the villagers try to use it to suck up garbage. Eric, "a little boy who was seven and three quarters and known locally for telling Tall Stories," saves the day. He brings the mystery to the Professor, prompting him to identify it as an elephant, which gratifies the villagers and greatly relieves their visitor. Windham's inventive and deadpan drawings provide the best moments. The combination of elephants and landscapes in which such animals are rarely seen at rural British train stations, in libraries, drifting in oceans will inspire grins in the most earnest listener.