Review: The Elephant Who Liked To Smash Small Cars

The Elephant Who Liked To Smash Small Cars by Jean Merrill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A friend of mine recommended this to me, saying it was a little demented for a child's book. Boy, was he right!

The plot is as follows: An elephant likes to smash small cars(although in one instance, it looks like he's attempting to have sex with one.) He's a car wrecking machine. One day, a car dealership specializing in small cars opens in the neighborhood and an orgy of car smashing destruction ensues. The dealer, his business obviously ruined, starts stocking large cars, too big for the elephant to smash. He then proceeds to repeatedly run over the elephant for the sole purpose of teaching him a lesson...

Edit: They finally reprinted this gem and I had the lady of the house read it aloud for my amusement. I took great glee in seeing her grow increasingly appalled as the elephant got his comeuppance. Anyway, the illustrations from the original edition are intact, as is the moral of the tale: "If you act like an asshole, sooner or later, someone is going to settle your hash for you."

I wish my mom would have read this to me when I was a youngling. Funny stuff, even for adults.

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