This is super cute! I was surprised Julia got as into the illustrations as she did, just because of the more reserved tone but she really, really enjoyed them. She devoured each page. I'd be lying if I said I didn't do the same.
The story is one of the few that really can make you LOL. In a time when this little term, three little letters, make everything seem so darn funny, this story really is.
We read in the back of the book that this was Patricia Thomas' first book! I'm going to have to see if she went on to write anything else.
I'd recommend this to parents for younger children and older toddlers/young kids - it can work for just about any age I think.

This has always been one of my all time favorites! I have remembered the opening lines for literally decades. This book has been my inspiration as a children’s author writing in rhyme. I just recently purchased a new copy for myself

Oh no! Look out! The elephant thinks he’s going to sneeze! This sends the other animals into a panic. The last time the elephant sneezed the birds lost all their feathers, the stripes flew off the zebra, and the monkeys fell out of the trees. The elephant tries, but he really can’t help it he’s about to sneeze. And then at the very last second out pops a mouse with a deafening, “BOO!” The elephant is so scared that he forgets to sneeze! The animals think they're saved, but then the mouse explains that he scared the elephant so that he would stop sneezing. And the elephant finds this so funny he begins to giggle, then chortle, and guffaw. Soon the earth is shaking with the elephant’s laughter and the animals find themselves losing feathers and stripes once again.

The detailed line work of the illustrations fills the landscape with hilariously terrified anthropomorphic animals, from the alarmed buffalo to the horrified zebra. The book I have has mostly black and white illustrations with just a couple colored pages. However, I have seen other editions of the book that are completely filled with colored illustrations. Although the all colored edition is definitely more vibrant, the hilarious facial expressions and the text work well with black and white illustrations as well. The rhyming text is a joy to read aloud. It’s mostly dialogue and features a wide vocabulary and many synonyms. Although the book takes its time building up to the climax, the outcome of the elephant’s laughter is a sure-fire ending.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...

another childhood favorite of mine.
a longer story, but made fun of you can change your voice into the different dialects of the various animals!
Side note: I prefer the original print where there was only 2 colors in the images.... This reprint with the colored pictures is throwing me off lol
But that's just me being picky!

One of the great read-alouds, particularly if you are a ham reader and pretend to be an elephant warning the forest and grassland and river and lake animals that you are about to sneeze while you are trying your best not to.

This was a favorite when my own thirty-something daughters were young children. I bought a gift copy (and one for me) for a friend’s three-year old. It is not quite Seussian, though it doth so aspire, McGuire, and it’s close enough in wit and rhyme to count or miscount as discount Seuss. It was written in 1970 or it might have had a an ASPCA verification that no zebra’s stripes, or bear’s hair, or bee’s stings, or bird’s feathers, or fish scales were harmed in the writing or reading of this book.

Best for parents or grandparents of three-to-five-year olds. Oh, and three-to five-year olds!

My mom read us books all the time. For some reason THIS book was read by DAD, always. It was the Daddy story and it ALWAYS made us laugh.

Hilarious illustrations

I loved this growing up, and so did my son. Longer than most picture books, but funny with a good lesson at the end.

Another favorite in our family; the rhyme carries the story along so endearingly that the kids can’t get enough of this charmer

Elephant really has to sneeze, but can he learn not to disrupt everyone around him?

An old favorite that still stands up well.

I loved this book as a child. My son loved it when he was two. Now his sister is the same age and enjoying it just as much. It is a delight to read, and the illustrations are so good.