The Elephant and The Tree By Jin Pyn Lee

I really enjoyed the simplicity of this book. Only black paper was used and the color of the font was white and green. I found the words to be very powerful and meaningful, unlike in the book Leaf. The font was very childlike and playful, but the story is serious in the end because both the tree and elephant were killed. This book sends the message to readers that not only do people have feelings, but the animals do too. The elephant and tree were very happy and had traits of humans. These traits made me feel bad for the elephant and tree when they could no longer be together. The black paper and bright green chalk marks would be a great idea for incorporating a creative project in the classroom. I might introduce this book as a lesson for talking about why animals are becoming extinct. I feel that this book is written for younger children because of the size of the book, and the difficulty of words on each page. However, the subject matter could also be for more mature audiences, so I would recommend the book for grades first, second, and third.