Author: Graeme Base
Publishing: Puffin Books
Number of Pages: Picture book—30 pages
Genre: Picture Book
Reading Level: 5+
Summary: This story is about an Elephant names Horace. It is his eleventh birthday and he prepares a great feast for his eleven friends that are coming to his party. The guests start arriving and they are shown the great feast but are told that they will not be eating until the Eleventh Hour arrives. To pass the time they play games: sack races, snakes and ladders, cricket, tennis, tug o’ war and others. Finally, the Eleventh Hour arrives and the guests go in to have the feast but it seems to have disappeared! Someone stole it and no one seems to know who did it. This is where we find ourselves in a mystery. Looking at the book, the beautiful, creative illustrations for a second time you find that there are a series of clues hidden carefully in the drawings. It is easy to lose yourself in trying to find all of the clues, as there are very many. All of the answers and explanations are offered in the back of the book.
My Reaction to the Book: I actually really enjoyed the book. As I read it I thought the illustrations were amazing and just so detailed. Then when I found out it was a mystery and there were clues scattered throughout I enjoyed going back and trying to find out who stole the feast. It’s a very interesting and fun book for any child.
Potential Problems: The only problem that this book may have is the fact that the mice stole the feast from the elephant and all of his friends—there wasn’t any sharing.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book to anyone because even if you are reading it to a small child they will still enjoy the story and the pictures. A older child can really enjoy it too though because they would be able to search for clues and try to figure out the mystery.
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