Charlotte Cowan
The Hippocratic Press (2004)
ISBN 9780975351604
Reviewed by Cayden (age 3.5) and Max (age 20 months) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (4/08)
“The Little Elephant with the Big Earache” begins when all of Eddie the elephant’s cousins arrive on Wednesday to help celebrate his birthday. They run down to the river and start building mud castles for the Mud Castle Contest on Saturday. Wednesday evening, however, Eddie wakes up in the middle of the night because his ear is hurting him. His mom gives him some medicine and says that they will see the doctor in the morning. After a visit to the Dr. Hippocrates, the doctor determines that it is an early ear infection and that they are just going to monitor it. By Saturday Eddie feels better just in time to enjoy his party!
Cayden: “His ears hurt!”
Max: “Hurt! Hurt!”
Max: Pointing to the picture of Eddie crying: “Cry!”
Cayden: “He looks sad because he is sick Max.”
Cayden: “Why would they sit on the porch in the middle of the night?”
Cayden: “Why doesn’t he like to go to the doctor? I like to go to the doctor!”
Max: “Like!”
Cayden: “Why is he wearing his blanket as a cape? Maybe he doesn’t want it to fall in the road on the way out to the car.”
Cayden: “My favorite part was when the doctor looked in his ears to see what was wrong.”
Cayden: “I also liked the pictures of when they were building those mud castles, especially the elephant one!”
Parent’s comments:
Written by a pediatrician, “The Little Elephant with the Big Earache” is a very educational and entertaining book. Although my children have never had ear infections they could completely relate to being sick with other ailments and visiting the doctor. They loved the colorful illustrations and spent a lot of time on each page as there was so much to look at.
Inside the back cover of the book is a helpful pull-out guide for parents answering frequently asked questions regarding ear infections. The guide details exactly what an ear infection is and gives recommendations such as to how to make your child feel better and when to call the doctor. The inclusion of this helpful reference guide makes “The Little Elephant with the Big Earache” not only a great book for children but also for parents. We look forward to reading more books from the Dr. Hippo series!
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