The Elephant and the Bad Baby

Well it appears our diagnosis of hand, foot and mouth was wrong because although Ben was still under the weather yesterday, this morning he seemed okay. So I dropped him off at childcare and drudged off to work despite feeling rotten myself (I'm certain I have the adult version of it sans the spots). I went for some fresh air at lunchtime and made a beeline to Readers' Feast.

I bought Benji The Elephant and The Bad Baby, having lurked around the Australian picture book section for a few minutes, flicking through classics such as Wombat Stew and Possum Magic. I was on the verge of buying the latter but the thought of explaining the concept of invisibility to him was more than I could bear.

I distinctly remember that our childhood friends the Hewetts had this book and that we read it over and over again. I also distinctly remember being horrified at the bad baby's bad manners. In the story, the bad baby hitches a ride with an elephant and they both go rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta through the town, stopping off at various shops and helping themselves to ice creams, pies, buns, chips, chockie bikkies, lollipops and apples*.

The elephant becomes upset because the bad baby doesn't say "please" when he is offered the goodies. But this upset is nothing compared to the anger the shop keepers feel as they chase the bad baby and elephant down the street because they haven't been paid. Paying for things you buy at the shop, by the way, is definitely a concept that Ben understands because I make him give our corner milkbar owner 65 cents each time he buys a Freddo frog.

This story is just like Hairy Maclary From Donaldsons Dairy, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes and The Wonky Donkey in that it introduces a new character or story development at each turn of the page and builds upon itself (there must be a technical term for this kind of story). I love reading these rhyming building books more than anything because you can almost sing them - which gives me something to do (having read the book a hundred times) and it keeps Benji captivated too. He also studied Raymond Briggs' wonderful illustrations intently as the elephant and the bad baby exit each page to the right with the shopkeepers wielding things such as a shiny meat cleaver and spatula.

Clearly the message to the story is that it is bad not to say please and commandeer elephants to steal food from shops.

The Elephant and the Bad Baby gets a double thumbs up from me. Ben listened to the whole story without wriggling, but as soon as we'd finished it he demanded Love That Baby! and chortled the whole way through it. He's such a softie! He's going to be devastated when we return it to the library on Wednesday.


* I like that a healthy food is tacked onto the end of the list as an afterthought. And threatening babies and animals with meat cleavers and spatulas? Clearly this book was written decades ago (1969 to be precise). How refreshing...


The Elephant and the Bad Baby is by Elfrida Vipont and illustrated by Raymond Briggs
Wombat Stew is by Marcia K Vaughn and illustrated by Pamela Lofts
Possum Magic is by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas