The Saggy Baggy Elephant (Little Golden Book)

by K. Jackson

Other authorsB. Jackson (Author), Tenggren (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

823.91

Publication

Golden Books (1999), Edition: Illustrated, 24 pages

Description

After a parrot makes fun of Sooki’s big ears, long nose, and wrinkled skin, the “saggy baggy” elephant isn’t too sure of himself. But once he meets some beautiful creatures who look just like him, Sooki celebrates with a joyful “one-two-three-kick.” For over 50 years, parents and children have treasured this tale, with gorgeous art by Gustaf Tenggren, the illustrator of The Poky Little Puppy.

User reviews

LibraryThing member nmhale

A golden books classic. This one is about a little elephant who is happy to dance and kick around the forest until his reveries disturb the parrot. In irritation, the cranky bird laughs at elephant's saggy baggy skin and demands to know what kind of animal looks like that. Elephant, suddenly unsure

of his identity, becomes ashamed of his appearance and tries to abolish his extra skin. Exercising and soaking do no good, though, and he declines the tiger's offer to eat it off. In despair, little elephant slinks in to a dark cave to hide his odd skin from the world. Luckily, a troop of elephants find the poor elephant and help him acquire confidence in his unique identity.

A simple story with correspondingly simple drawings, used to convey the message of self esteem and identity in terms young children can understand. Although the story imparts the importance of identity, it doesn't embrace the idea that different types of creatures should respect differences in others. The parrot mocks the elephant, other animals try to take advantage of him, and he's not happy until he is finally with his own kind. I find it interesting that the book promotes accepting one's own peculiarities but not those of others. A reflection of its times. The message is limited and other books should be read to children to emphasize an appreciation of differences. Despite this drawback, the story is cute, and the message of confidence in your own identity is an important one for children.

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LibraryThing member stharp

This book is a fantasy, an elephant cannot conceivably talk and cannot be so worried about self image. This story is a little over played when it come to plot, and the climax of the story seems to have nothing to do with the initial problem the elephant wanted to solve. The author did not stick to

one plot or the other, but instead tried to have two.

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LibraryThing member CrystalReed

The Sagggy Baggy Elephant is a book about a little elephant who doesn't know he is an elephant. He is dancing through the jungle when he meets a parrot who makes fun of him for having saggy baggy pants. The little elephant tells the parrot his name is Sooki, and the parrot calls him saggy baggy.

The litte elephant tries to get the wrinkles out of his skin, but has no luck. He also meets a tiger, a crocodile, and a lion. At the end of the book, he finally meets other elephants.

I really liked this book when I was a little child. I like the illustrations and it is funny. It is a little sad, until the end when the little elephant finds the other elephants.

I would use this book to show my students that just because you are different from some people doesn't mean you should worry about being different. I could use this book on part of a lesson about the jungle.

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LibraryThing member abmcenerney

good for kindergarten
little in size

LibraryThing member bdecossa

A happy little elephant one day meets a parrot in the jungle. The parrot tells the elephant that his skin is very saggy and baggy. The elephant becomes very sad and upset that his skin is this way. He later runs into a few other older elephants who make him realize that there is nothing wrong with

saggy baggy skin. The little elephant learns to accept himself for the way he is.

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LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin

A little elephant stomps about the jungle and meets a cheeky parrot who teases the elephant for having saggy, baggy skin. After a number of run-ins with other jungle animals, the little elephant finally meets some adult elephants and realizes how beautiful they (and he) is - baggy, saggy skin and

all.

This is a cute story about learning to accept one's own image, with appropriate accompanying illustrations. There's a few funny moments, like when the tiger offers to help the little elephant out by nibbling on him a bit to help get rid of the excess skin. The version I have is the little Little Golden Book, which makes it a neat book for small hands.

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LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini

Pretty much a nonentity for me. Not getting why this has any sort of reputation, except a kind of founder effect for the genre of watered-down stories of animal whimsy.

LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

Too bad there are always mean people like the parrot. Sooki was doing just fine with the one-two-three-kick" until he met that bad bird. Still, it was nice that the little elephant found his family & friends."

LibraryThing member SqueakyChu

My 2 1/2-year-old grandson enjoyed this story. I like that it is a children's book with an older copyright (1947). I also like that it tells the story of an animal who isn't sure that he is comfortable about his own appearance, but that he learns he is fine the way he is...and, in fact, looks very

much like other elephants! :)

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