By Cyrisse Jaffee

Two new wordless picture books feature animals as friends, revealing greater truths about community and the environment.

Lost by Bob Staake. Penguin Random House, 2024.

The Boy and the Elephant by Freya Blackwood. Random House Studio, 2021.

In Lost, a little girl (whose face, reminiscent of Felix the Cat, is perhaps an homage) can’t find her kitty. She posts flyers everywhere and, as she does, she encounters others in her suburban neighborhood who have lost pets: the postal carrier’s bird has flown its cage, an older lady is missing her dog, and the giraffe (yes, giraffe) belonging to a man with a hat has escaped.

There’s no sign of the cat, however, and the girl is discouraged. Then she encounters the lost dog and the missing bird, who eventually lead her to a tree where her cat is stuck. The giraffe appears to help rescue the cat, and eventually all the humans and pets are reunited. It’s a fanciful tale, with a comforting ending and a meaningful message — the kitty is home and now they have lots of new friends. Helping others and connecting with your community can ultimately be rewarding.

The illustrations, “created using pencils, brushes, crayons, and Adobe Photoshop 3.0,” are engaging and fun to look at, despite the grey palette that at first glance might come off as unexciting. Although the story is contemporary (we see a desktop computer in one panel), there is definitely a 1940s feel to the illustrations. With small splashes of color and multi-paneled spreads, the cartoon style offers kids (kindergarten or first grade) an opportunity to focus, search for details, and supply the narrative in their own words. (One caveat, the bird in the story looks oddly like a flying fish.) This is an excellent book to read one-on-one, with plenty of prompts for observation and conversation.

In the Boy and the Elephant, a little boy lives in a crowded city, but between his apartment building and the next one is an empty lot, with a small grove of trees — perhaps all that’s left of nature in this part of the city. For the little boy it’s a forest, alive with bunnies and birds. One of the trees in particular is his special, quiet place which he enjoys throughout the seasons. To him, it resembles a friendly elephant, with its trunk and is massive size.

One day, “For Sale/Sold” signs appear, and the trees are marked for destruction. During the night, the little boy ventures out into the forest one last time, hugging the trunk of his tree, trying to move it. Unsuccessful, he sadly walks back to his house, wiping away tears. But suddenly, the trees transform into actual elephants, slowly walking to a new location in the city, where they can continue to provide shade, beauty, and a refuge. The final spread shows the boy and a friend sitting beneath his special tree, sharing their lunch.

This is a beautiful and magical story, illustrated with lovely pencil and oil drawings on watercolor paper that may remind grown-ups of British illustrators such as Shirley Hughes. The images perfectly capture the hustle and bustle of the city, contrasted with the calm, peaceful feeling of the sheltering, tall trees, and the majestic journey of the tree-elephants during the night. The boy himself is sweet and appealing and the details of the apartment and his bedroom —a stuffed elephant and elephant drawings on his wall — foretell the transformation. There’s also a valuable message about the importance of saving and savoring nature.

This could be a group read-aloud or a lap book, with plenty of ways to interpret the ending. The story could also be an inspiration for kids to draw their own renditions of nature and its wondrous creatures.

Cyrisse Jaffee is a former children’s and YA librarian, children’s book editor, and a creator of educational materials for WGBH. She holds a master’s degree in Library Science from Simmons College and lives in Newton, MA.