A NOSE LIKE A HOSE

Possessing a prodigious proboscis "has its highs... and its lows," muses the roly-poly elephant narrator of this vivacious volume. And the pictures add a whole other layer to the situation. For the "highs," Samuels depicts the hero giving a bird a ride on a water spout that emerges from his hoselike nose; for the "lows" on the next spread, his tangled trunk winds up giving him an unintentional dousing. The thick, saturated acrylics bring the elephant's chunky mass so vividly to life that he often looks as if he's been sculpted from clay. Reveling in the gentle silliness of her rhymes, Samuels makes no consistent attempt to give the elephant a realistic environment: although one rhyme appears amid tropical-looking leaves, other spreads feature backdrops of maroon checks, pink-and-cream stripes or patriotic-looking stars. Ultimately, the elephant decides that his unique feature is an asset, especially at naptime ("How cozy it is when I need to doze")—and readers will likely agree that his story wins by much more than a nose. Ages 2-5. (Mar.)