Phyllis Kennemer, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Arnold, an artist, teaches in two schools. One is in New York City and the other is in the jungles of Thailand. Her city students are children learning to paint large bold pictures. Her jungle students are elephants learning the same. Full color photographs on facing pages show the similarities of the students (both human and animal) and their artwork. A simple, concise text explains facts about elephants informing the reader that they eat about three hundred pounds of food a day and drink thirty-five gallons of water. The most interesting facts relate to their artistic abilities. Elephants have 150,000 muscles in their trunks so they can easily hold a paintbrush and move it in specific ways. Some drag the brush over large pieces of paper to make bold marks; others dab bits of colors here and there. Few paint actual objects, although sometimes elephants may create pictures of flowers or other natural things in their environment. Pictures painted by children and by elephants appear side by side throughout the book. An author’s note explains that Asian elephants have been trained to help people since ancient times, but now their labor is no longer needed. These domesticated animals are in danger of dying out. Thus, the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project was organized. This nonprofit organization is dedicated to saving the elephants. Exhibiting and selling the elephant’s art provides the main source of revenue. More information is available at www.elephantart.com. 2005, Anne Schwartz Book/Atheneum, $16.95. Ages 5 to 9.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 16))
Art teacher Arnold, together with her artist husband, embarked on a project to support the diminishing number of Asian elephants. Traveling to Thailand, India and Cambodia, they trained 30 elephants to paint and supplied their keepers with materials and ideas to keep the project in place. Arnold recounts, in alternating text and photographs, the basics of teaching art to children and elephants, exploring similarities and differences between the two groups. Students use their hands while others work with their trunks; some like peanut butter and jelly, while others eat grass. But in art class both can express their talent by painting with dots, bright colors and strokes in their own style. Remarkably, the elephant paintings parallel the artwork of the children quite well, including one bouquet that is amazingly realistic. Additionally, Arnold intersperses some interesting facts about the elephant's natural behavior. Beautiful photography displaying children, elephants and artwork set in a well-designed layout of large multi-colored text, coupled with green boxes filled with facts in a bold black font, add to the book's unique subject matter and appeal. 2005, Anne Schwartz/Atheneum, 40p, $16.95. Category: Nonfiction. Ages 6 to 9. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sylvia L. Adair (Library Media Connection, January 2006)
Some of Katya Arnold's art students are children. Some are real live elephants. Arnold and her husband, Alex Melamid, established painting schools in Thailand, India, and Cambodia, and taught young elephants to paint. This exuberant picture book celebrates the joy of painting for children and elephants, and includes many brightly colored examples of work by both. Double-page spreads include a photograph of her human students, very brief text, and a corresponding photograph of the elephant students. The facts about elephants, presented under the elephants' photos, are detailed and fascinating, and would be fun to read aloud with students. Share this book with art teachers, or use it to introduce a unit on painting or endangered animals. Part of the profits from this book will be used to help elephants. Interested schools and parents can also go online to buy elephant paintings. Recommended. 2005, Atheneum (Simon & Schuster), 32pp., $16.95 hc. Ages 5 to 8.

Arlyn M. Christopherson (Science Books and Films (Vol. 42, No. 1))
Compare an American city with a jungle, compare a hand with a trunk, and compare grass with a peanut butter sandwich. Then watch hands and trunks through an artist's eye, as they wield brushes to make large colorful paintings. We are privileged to visit this artist's painting classes, one for children in a big-city school, the others for elephants in the jungles of Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia. Katya Arnold, artist and author, gives us two utterly charming books in one: Large print on the page aims at the preschooler and beginning reader, while smaller print gives a surprising amount of information about elephants and can be read by a third grader. All ages will enjoy the author's full-page color photographs of both kinds of students painting and giving examples of their art; and it's not always easy to tell who the painter was! (Unfortunately, a small piece of misinformation creeps into the text: The author states that elephants "cry tears when they are sad" (p. 8), but this is more folklore than science.) Arnold explains her motivation for this project and book in an author's note at the end: With habitats being destroyed in forests, what can be done with the semidomesticated elephants that were once vital to logging? How can they and their mahouts—lifelong caretakers—support themselves? The elephant paintings are sold internationally through the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project, supporting at least some of the mahout-elephant pairs. I recommend this book highly for children (and the rest of us) who are interested in both art and animals. Highly Recommended, Grades PreK-4. 2005, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 36pp., $16.95. Ages 4 to 10.

Hope Morrison (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2005 (Vol. 59, No. 3))
Arnold splits her time between teaching painting to kids in Brooklyn and elephants in Thailand (“I teach in two schools. One is in the city. The other is in the jungle”). This photodocumentary compares and contrasts her experiences by means of a simple storyline, the inclusion of some factual material about elephants, and large-scale color photos of her two classrooms. An author’s note offers more detail on her work in Asia, where she and her husband have trained more than thirty elephants to paint and helped start a nonprofit organization to sell the elephant paintings and raise funds for the diminishing Asian elephant population. Conceptually, this is a cool book on an unusual topic; Arnold sticks with her initial comparison between kids-as-artists and elephants-as-artists all the way through, and the most successful spreads are those that perfectly juxtapose the two (such as the facing photos of a tangle of child hands and a tangle of elephant trunks). Though some photos are grainily reproduced, little ones will forgive this technicality and appreciate the unique and irresistible subject matter. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2005, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2005, Schwartz/Atheneum, 40p, $16.95. Ages 4-8 yrs.

Marita Richards (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 18, No. 3))
The subject of this book is the unique, true story about elephants in Asia learning to paint. The method of instruction for the elephants learning to paint is compared to that of children learning art in school. Arnold gives information in the author’s note about the reason elephants are taught to paint and the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project. The format of this book includes colorful photographs and large bold print text that can easily be read by a child. Interesting facts about the elephants are printed in smaller type. This book can be shared in the classroom as well as one-on-one. Nonfiction (599.67). Grades K-2. 2005, Anne Schwartz/Atheneum, Unpaged., $16.95. Ages 5 to 8.