I discovered this book simply by being attracted to the illustrations, but after reading it I was enchanted by the story as well. Ella is a little elephant who lives in a pretty village by the sea and helps her mother in the local bakery. She wants to do more to help, but is too little to handle the hot oven or slice the pies with knives. She gets her opportunity to take on a major task when the delivery man forgets to load a special cake on his truck. Ella hitches a cart to her bike and heads off to fulfill her task, though she encounters many obstacles.
The sweet determination of Ella and the loving relationship between she and her mother make this book stand out. Young children will relate to Ella's desire to help and will delight in seeing if she can fulfill her goal of delivering the cake. The bright, idealistic illustrations create a setting that makes me want to jump right in and live in the little village.
There are a few other Ella books currently available, and I'm excited to see if they are as delightful as this title.
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