Elliot's Shipwreck

Reviewed: January 2, 2002
By: Andrea Beck
Publisher: Kids Can Press
32 Pages, $12.95

Time for another adventure with the stuffed toy brigade. This time Elliot the Moose gets the notion to go sailing in the ornamental pond behind the house. He gets together with Socks, the sock monkey, and they put together a boat out of what looks like an ice-cube tray, a wooden cutting board and a wooden spoon (for a mast).

Amy the stuffed sheep catches on and wants to join the ride, but the boat isn't big enough, so they promise to give her a turn later. As things develop, it's lucky she wasn't on board when the boat started to sink, and was able to come up with her own version of a rowboat to rescue the trapped sailors before they got waterlogged.

As always, this is the sort of tale that you could imagine some kids playing with their stuffies, and the imaginative use of common kitchen items is quite amusing.

Beck does a nice job on both the art and the text. Parents beware, though. I think youngsters would probably want to act this one out with their own toys once they see the idea displayed this well.