Yet another triumphant experiment for the award-winning Timmers.
Elephant Island
The Times Children’s Book of the Week
Selected for The New York Times Best Children’s Books of 2022
Picture Book finalist, Teach Early Years Awards 2022
A shipwrecked elephant makes his tiny island a home for the many friends who come to the rescue, in the new picture book from New York Times Illustrated Book Award winning author.
Caught in a storm, Arnold the elephant washes up on a tiny island. Along comes Mouse in a little dingy and Arnold steps aboard…uh-oh! They use the wreckage to make the island bigger. And here’s Dog—can this boat take Arnold’s weight? Uh-oh!
None of the animals can save the shipwrecked elephant but each broken vessel provides new materials for another intricate construction. Wheels and pulleys create a Ferris wheel, an elevator, a waffle maker. All the animals work as a team to build increasingly intricate constructions that turn the desert island into a fun park city. Soon there is a whole community and enough space for everyone!
As with all Leo Timmers picture books, Elephant Island has many layers of discovery. Tapping into the childhood pleasure of contraptions, this cheerful picture book is full of complex and playful visual detail and humour that Leo Timmers’ readers love. Preschoolers who enjoy Meccano and Lego will find joy on every page with the creation of each new imaginative construction, packed with mechanical detail on bright double page spreads. Elephant Island is a runaway hit in Europe.
Translated by James Brown.
Look inside video | Author Q&A | Book trailer
Ebook available wherever you buy your ebooks
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Book Details
Country of Origin Belgium Reader Age 2-5 year Book Size ISBN
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Reviews
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Reviews
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Superior book everyone should buy.
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An enchanting and inspiring book with crisp, colorful, and animated illustrations that pop from the pages.
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The sheer inventiveness of the entire endeavor is to be commended. Come for the elephant. Stay for his island.
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2022 Must-Read Picture Books
The physical comedy portrayed through the illustrations is what will truly delight readers. -
Top 50 Kids Books 2022
Perhaps the best yet from Leo Timmers. -
Timmers’s illustrations are beautiful, vivid and full of feeling. The text is charming and easy to read and works with the illustration to enrich the story.
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If you’re looking for a book that will put a big smile on your face, steer a course for Elephant Island. It’s a wonderful place to be!
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A wonderful story of problem solving and innovation, the lengths the elephant goes to try and build his island will intrigue and delight all readers—highly recommended.
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Although on the surface this is a simple story, ‘Elephant Island’ could also be viewed as a modern day fable, full of messages and meaning, making it thought provoking as well as full of fun!
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The playful illustrations reward close inspection as Arnold and the animals construct ever more elaborate structures and enjoy the fruits of their labour.
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A book with a message that everyone needs to hear.
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A zany and intriguing title.
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The book’s vibrant and busy visuals alone will capture young imaginations as they discover more on each read.
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A unique nautical tall tale.
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With Leo Timmers’ trademark quirky humour, Elephant Island is a masterclass in optimism & resourcefulness!
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Yet another triumphant experiment for the award-winning Timmers
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The whole premise of the elephant on this tiny little rock in the middle of the ocean is comedic perfection.
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The story is so funny that it had me giggling several times, but it is also heartwarming.
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It’s a colourful world of creation, packed with detail kids will love.
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I always keep an eye out for Leo Timmers’ book because I think they are just delightful. Elephant Island just a stunning fable for kindness, for bringing people together, to be enjoyed again and again and again. Everytime I read it I notice another detail or some other great idea, some feat of engineering that I absolutely love.
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Another clever and hilarious creation from Leo Timmers
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Elephant Island is a great example of how picturebooks can invite children to philosophise and think deeply, without ever needing to tiptoe into a ‘teacherish’ didactic tone. Silly and profound. Funny and poignant. Perilous but optimistic.
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Barbro Lindgren touches on the very human need to connect showing a longing that is heartbreaking. Her timeless text combines effortlessly with the moody illustrations by Eva Ericksson, capturing the yearning and melancholy of a tiny man with a big heart.
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Get ready to laugh at the lines and marvel at the stunning illustrations as award-winning Belgian author and illustrator Leo Timmers works his special magic on another stellar picture book which inspires youngsters to build on teamwork… and have fun in the process!
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With a deliciously un-self aware, but hugely adept constructor as its main character and a splendidly silly story to star in, Leo Timmers’ illustrations steal the show. Every one is a testament to creative play and collaborative construction, increasingly full of wacky detail to pore over and giggle at. I can see Arnold’s tale becoming a storytime favourite.
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Fantastically fun and full of detail, children will love looking at every page of this super book.
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This would be one of my favourite Leo Timmer’s picture books. There is humour, animals, kindness, resilience, and friendship. What’s not to love?
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A fascinating and funny tale of a shipwrecked elephant, with a plethora of brilliantly detailed boats for little ones to pore over.
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Leo Timmers never ceases to delight. This story abounds in maritime references as a pachyderm with a built-in snorkel keeps putting his foot in it.
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A refutation for anyone who thinks their island is too full to accommodate outsiders.
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The artwork is gorgeous, with its beautiful tones of blue and colourful spreads of the expanded island.
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The bright and bold use of colours is gorgeous and with little in the background to distract, all eyes are on the island as it grows!
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The tender yet dynamic verbal and visual narrative never falters in this engaging picture book.
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Elephant Island is like a fabulous fable that might be about conservation, or refugees, or human connections and kindness, or community survival. It is also a terrific story for the sake of story and I love it to bits.
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Every page is filled with delightful details that will have little ones searching the pages for all the fun to be found there. This has “Read it again” written all over it. Don’t miss it.
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Charming illustrations and a creative way to find the silver lining make Elephant Island a wonderful picture book addition to your library.
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A work of genius. As always with Timmer’s books there is always hope and nobody gets left behind.
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The colors and clever details are electrifying. This light-tension, winking tale of a makeshift homecoming is sure to delight audiences at story time.
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It’s a picture book tribute to the power of collective, constructive play, and to heeding the call of freedom.
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Available worldwide from your local bookstore or online.
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Teach Early Years Awards –
Picture Book finalist, Teach Early Years Awards 2022