Elmer (Elmer Books) (1968)

Elmer the elephant is about a special elephant that doesn't look like the rest. He finds out that who he is is special and is proud to be that way.

Elmer is an elephant who looks different than all the other animals. Find out how he feels and celebrates his differences...I love this book and it's a great read aloud for kindergarten or first graders and would compliment character ed or even lessons on community. Responsive classroom would be a super time to share this book. ( )

A great book that uses the elements of fantasy to encourage children to be themselves and to love each other because of, rather than in spite of, their differences. An elephant named Elmer was born with "patchwork skin" while all the other elephants were grey. One day, in an effort to blend in with everyone else, Elmer covered himself with grey grape juice and soon realized that he had lost all semblance of his individuality. The other elephants no longer recognized him. Once the grape juice wore off, he realized that his differences from other were what made him special. ( )

This book is about an elephant named Elmer. He is different from the rest of the elephants and goes through a small life journey to find that it is okay to be different. This book is about acceptance of one another. It is a great book for a short read aloud in class. After the read aloud is done, you could have a class discussion about individual differences and then have the students create their own "Elmer" and then write a brief story about a time in their life when they felt different from everyone else. The language in this book was very readable and not too complex for the primary grades. This book is meant for k-2, but I would argue that it would be a fun read for any elementary grade at the beginning of the year as a way to get to know one another. ( )

I feel that this book is a good book to read to a class that isn't feeling confident about themselves. Perhaps someone is being bullied for being different because of their race or any other circumstance and needs to know that being different is perfectly normal and okay.