Small One, the youngest elephant in the herd, is eager to grow up. As the animals make their way to a watering hole, Small One thinks about playing in the mud and using her trunk to squirt water in her mouth.

When they finally reach the mud hole, Small One delights in covering herself in a layer of mud. She pretends not to hear mother's warning to be careful. "I'm big! I don't have to stay close to my mother all the time," she trumpets.

When time comes to leave, Small One is determined to climb out on her own but has trouble. She slips and slides and begins to panic. Her mother and aunties come to her aid, pulling her up and out of the mud. As she takes her place "among the tall gray legs," Small One realizes that she's "not quite ready to be big."

This tender tale captures perfectly the emotions of young ones wanting to be independent and grow up quickly. The double-paged, realistic illustrations, done in warm earth tones, depict Small One's world under the African sun.

Classroom Experiences: In addition to an independent read-alone, this also makes an excellent read-aloud. While reviewing the book, we took it into two classrooms. In the first, we used it as a "discussion starter" for the topic of "growing up" with a group of first graders. The students identified with Small One and made wonderful text-to-self connections. In the second classroom, we used it to extend and enrich a third grade social studies unit on Africa, again with great success.

Reviewed by the teachers at Education Oasis.