Strictly No Elephants (The Pet Club Series) Hardcover – Picture Book, October 27, 2015

fun book . teaches the kids about differences, and how tackle rejection . love it. beautifully illustrated.

This book teaches such an important message in such a clever way, and the illustration is so cute and engaging!

I try to choose a theme for my niece's presents. She's 4 1/2 & loves elephants. This is a nice story about being ok, with being different. I'll give it to her with a cute pair of elephant pj's.

It is perfect for teaching about differences between children

Love it.

This is a good story about how a pet club is formed, but the "odd pets" are excluded, which ends up hurting their feelings. So, in response, the owners of the unusual pets form their own club where everyone is welcome. This book is pretty brief, but it sparked a conversation between my kids (6yrs and 4yrs) and me about how it hurts to be excluded and how it isn't kind to judge anyone just because they're not the same as everyone else. Great lesson and cute illustrations, though I probably would have liked a few more pages of "meaty" text/story.

"Strictly No Elephants," written by Lisa Mantchev and illustrated by Taeeum Yoo, is a 32-page book intended for children age 4-8 with lessons about inclusion, kindness, mutual respect and understanding, kindness, and problem solving. The book is available in a hardcover ($11.90) and a paperback ($15.27) version. I strongly recommend the purchase of the hardcover, which, surprisingly, has the added benefit of being less expensive. It tells the story of a young boy who tries to take his tiny pet elephant to school for Pet Club Day but is refused entry. Devastated by his exclusion, he eventually solves the problem of rejection by establishing his own pet club, which accepts all animals. All the pets and children play together and have fun in this new club that welcomes diversity. He learns and teaches others that pets, like people, come in all shapes, sizes, and varieties. The book tells the heartwarming story of accepting diversity and change. Highly recommended.

My 3 year old daughter was bullied at preschool by two girls who constantly told her she couldn't play with them. It was so incredibly heartbreaking. Her preschool teacher and school handled it so well, but still, it broke my heart when I witnessed it and heard about it repeatedly. My daughter is now super social at a new school for Kindergarten but I still wanted a book to help teach *her* the importance on including others and to not exclude anyone like those two girls did to her in preschool. I stumbled upon this book on Amazon and am so glad I purchased it. The illustrations are well done and the message is simple yet effective. I read this book aloud to my 5 and 3 year old kids and it is a great addition to our home library. I also plan on purchasing this book for her teacher's class library as the lesson is so important. It's a great little story to help if your kid is the excluder type or even if they are the includer type. Well done book, short enough for bedtime, yet important enough to lead to great conversations about social skills.