Julie Larios - Yellow Elephant: A Bright Bestiary

---

YELLOW ELEPHANT A BRIGHT BESTIARY Poems by Julie LariosPaintings by Julie Paschkis HARCOURT, INC. ORLANDO AUSTIN NEW YORK SAN DIEGO TORONTO LONDON

---

Text copyright 2006 by Julie Larios
Illustrations copyright 2006
by Julie Paschkis All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the
publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any
part of the work should be mailed to the
following address: Permissions Department,
Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive,
Orlando, Florida 32887-6777. www.HarcourtBooks.com Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Larios, Julie Hofstrand, 1949
Yellow elephant/Julie Larios;
illustrated by Julie Paschkis.
p. cm.
1.

AnimalsJuvenile poetry.
2. ColorsJuvenile poetry.
3. Children's poetry, American.
I. Paschkis, Julie. II. Title.
PS3562.A7233Y45 2006
811'.54dc22 2004025163
ISBN-13: 978-0152-05422-9
ISBN-10: 0-15-205422-7 First edition
H G F E D C B A Manufactured in China The illustrations in this book were done in
gouache on Arches paper.

The display and text type were set in
Worcester Round. Color separations by Colourscan Co. Pte. Ltd.,
Singapore Manufactured by South China Printing
Company, Ltd., China This book was printed on totally chlorine-free
Stora Enso Matte paper. Production supervision by Ginger Boyer Designed by Linda Lockowitz For Fernando
J. L.

For Stephen Iino
J. P.

---

GREEN FROG RED DONKEY WHITE OWL ORANGE GIRAFFE YELLOW ELEPHANT PURPLE PUPPY PINK KITTY BLACK FISH GOLD FINCH BROWN MOUSE SILVER GULL TURQUOISE LIZARD BLUE TURTLE GRAY GOOSE One thing for sure about a green frog on a green lily pad on a green day in spring: One hop and her green is gone. See how she swims, blue frog now under blue water. Red clay road. Red donkey braying.

He has a red temper. He's probably saying, This load is too heavy. I'm hungry. My feet hurt! I'm tired! I'm hot! It's not fair! Red donkey sits down. Someone shouts, "Come!" But he won't come.

Who? asks the white owl, all eyes. Who? This is his riddle. Who? This is his riddle.

In the world's white weather, who has white feathers? Who flies over white ice? Who? And over white snow? Who flies while the white wind blows?

Orange sun rising over the savannacan you see the orange water of the Juba River? Can you hear the hyena's high orange laugh? Look! On the riverbank, an orange giraffe. Yellow elephant in the jungle sun, in the day's yellow heat, trumpeting her song and galumphing along. Oh, I think no other animal can (I know a mosquito can't) glow in the jungle sun like a wild-eared yellow elephant. Purple ball for the puppy. He's feeling pretty nippy. Needs to run, maybe.

Chases purple birds and furry squirrelshe's zigging, they're zagging. Puppy tail wags. Now he drinks cool water with his purple tongue slurping.

Pink collar. Pink bell. Pink bowl. Pink bowl.

And a pink yawn at dawn. Outside, the cityhot and hazy. Inside, cool kitty feeling pink and lazy.

Now all silver quiver. Now all dark flash. Clinging to a prickly thistle, the gold finch flutters, whistles, then flies away. Next page