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Ella
Ella the elephant thinks of herself as a famous circus star, but gets a lesson in humility when a mean farmer puts her to work.
48 pages, Paperback
Published October 11, 1978
2 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Bill Peet
43Ìýbooks229ÌýfollowersBill Peet was an American children's book illustrator and a story writer for Disney Studios. He joined Disney in 1937 and worked on The Jungle Book, Song of the South, Cinderella, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, Goliath II, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Fantasia, The Three Caballeros, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and other stories.
After successes developing short stories for Disney, Peet had his first book published, Hubert's Hair Raising Adventure.
After successes developing short stories for Disney, Peet had his first book published, Hubert's Hair Raising Adventure.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 14, 2020
This was an interesting story, a bit surprising. Ella is an elephant who is the star of the circus, a real diva. She is spoiled and enjoys living the good life. One day a carriage gets stuck in the mud and they need Ella to help the horses push it out of the mud. She got very offended and upset they asked her to do hard labor and sulks. She decides to punish them and she doesn't get on the train and is left behind.
She stops at a farm to eat some hay and the farmer basically enslaves Ella to do all the hard labor on his farm at gunpoint. She finds out what real work is like and what being treated poorly is like. She spends the year with him and finally she is able to bust out and get back to the circus a changed elephant.
It's a real drama with Ella having to learn some tough lessons from this farmer. It's sort of a scary thing to contemplate, someone forcing you to do something you don't want to. A good lesson to not run away from home.
I don't think being a diva is healthy, but this was a harsh lesson for anyone. She also learned she enjoyed doing different things like watering flowers.
This isn't my favorite Bill Peet book, but it's a decent story, and a bit odd. It feels very much like Bill Peet.
She stops at a farm to eat some hay and the farmer basically enslaves Ella to do all the hard labor on his farm at gunpoint. She finds out what real work is like and what being treated poorly is like. She spends the year with him and finally she is able to bust out and get back to the circus a changed elephant.
It's a real drama with Ella having to learn some tough lessons from this farmer. It's sort of a scary thing to contemplate, someone forcing you to do something you don't want to. A good lesson to not run away from home.
I don't think being a diva is healthy, but this was a harsh lesson for anyone. She also learned she enjoyed doing different things like watering flowers.
This isn't my favorite Bill Peet book, but it's a decent story, and a bit odd. It feels very much like Bill Peet.
January 11, 2024
A charming little book, with the effortless beautiful drawings and delightful storytelling of Bill Peet, the legendary Disney story artist who had a second career as a children's book author and illustrator. Peet's career as a story man started with Pinocchio (1940) and went all the way through The Jungle Book (1967), which included Dumbo (1941)... so he's no stranger to drawing elephants. The drawings are so appealing and do so much communicating on their own, you could easily follow the story without the words, but he's provided AABBCC rhymes to share his morality tale. The basic premise is: don't get too haughty; things could be much worse. Poor Ella goes through a lot with Farmer Kirk, but she escapes back to the circus where she finds herself having a much better attitude (in this happy story world where circuses are not a horrible fate for elephants).
June 4, 2015
Bill Peet at his best! We recently discovered this author and have enjoyed the moral aspects to his story along with the beautiful illustrations. Is it just me or did children's books like this from decades past actually have length and substance to their story? These are the books I love to read aloud to my 5 small children!
May 19, 2013
This is Bill Peet at his (almost) best -- and he's always good. Ella the elephant is a spoiled, conceited circus elephant who runs away from her pampered life in the circus and becomes very sorry that she did. To an adult, the story is utterly predictable which is why I withhold one star, but of course to a six-year-old the story is wonderful. The more I read of Bill Peet's books (and I'm up to about 20 by now), the more I appreciate his drawing style: he makes it look easy, and yet it takes great skill to give animals and landscapes such color and just the right details with shades of darkness because there's always a dark side in a Bill Peet story. Here the dark side is being put to work on a farm by a cruel farmer. All ends well, of course.
Peet's poetry isn't his strong point -- he's better at straight narrative. I winced at a few lines such as:
but it's for six-year-olds, for Pete's sake, so as an adult reader I can accept it as an element of Peet's innate (and delightful) silliness. I simply love how he draws landscapes and old barns, and we get at least one two-page spread here.
Peet's poetry isn't his strong point -- he's better at straight narrative. I winced at a few lines such as:
Then her robe was sent out to be dry-cleaned and pressed
And also they fluff-dried her ostrich-plume crest
but it's for six-year-olds, for Pete's sake, so as an adult reader I can accept it as an element of Peet's innate (and delightful) silliness. I simply love how he draws landscapes and old barns, and we get at least one two-page spread here.
March 6, 2015
suddenly i really like elephants
Uh, so, yes: the sketchy cartoon style in this is super adorable. The artist did an excellent job of conveying character/the nature of characters through simple, rough lines. The hound was so dog.
Ella grows as a character throughout, but still retains plenty of her original character, making her very lovable indeed. this whole book agsahsjsj
off to draw elephants now
Uh, so, yes: the sketchy cartoon style in this is super adorable. The artist did an excellent job of conveying character/the nature of characters through simple, rough lines. The hound was so dog.
Ella grows as a character throughout, but still retains plenty of her original character, making her very lovable indeed. this whole book agsahsjsj
off to draw elephants now
February 27, 2018
A classic, rhyming, down-to-earth Bill Peet story. As usual, the main character learns a lesson in virtue - this time, it's Ella the proud circus elephant who needs to live a year on a farm to learn how spoiled she was.
April 6, 2019
2019: Bumping this up to a 3.5 as it was one I really liked and so did J.
May 11, 2009
Did I read this as a kid? I'm thinking I must have since it was written in 1964. Great book to teach kids to work hard and do their share.
March 26, 2010
MCL.
A farmer had a gun to make the circus elephant called Ella do the plowing and a lot of his own jobs. Why didn't he use some oxen?
A farmer had a gun to make the circus elephant called Ella do the plowing and a lot of his own jobs. Why didn't he use some oxen?
December 14, 2010
As with all Bill Peet's books, there is a strong moral story. Ella learns to get over herself and appreciate others.
September 29, 2014
A spoiled elephant learns a lesson after she runs away from the circus
February 5, 2015
Cute. Rhymed. Lesson: don't be spoiled. Learn the value of work.
January 19, 2017
Ella is an Ella-phant. Get it? Ella learns a good lesson the hard way. I joked with Kate that we should put her to work in a similar way until she learned to be more grateful.
November 6, 2017
A good story about being too proud and to appreciate what you have. Helping others makes you feel happy.
March 31, 2022
Boken handlar om en elefant på en cirkus men som inte vill vara kvar. Hon rymmer och kommer till en bondgård med en arg bonde och en arg hund. De vill ha Ella på bondgården men hon lyckas rymma och kommer tillbaka till cirkusen.
Jag tyckte att boken var lite rolig och bilderna var fina.
Jag tyckte att boken var lite rolig och bilderna var fina.
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July 26, 2022When you visit Grandpa Francis, there is a good chance you can read some Bill Peet.
May 9, 2024
Great message! Khi love this one
February 19, 2021
4.5 stars
The illustrations are nice and attractive
and appropriate.
Quite good illustrations and a
very good and creative story.
I quite liked this book and I
know children in general would
really enjoy it.
The illustrations are nice and attractive
and appropriate.
Quite good illustrations and a
very good and creative story.
I quite liked this book and I
know children in general would
really enjoy it.
June 17, 2015
GREAT STORY!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
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