Once again, Steig, that master of child's eye wonder, deliberately and beautifully fails to cater to adult sensibilities, as do those authors whose child characters "wake up" to find that nothing magical really happened or who are left on the last page with no proof and disbelieving parents.



Steig instead concentrates on the free-flowing mentality that allows a story about kitchen mixing to turn into an elephant genesis story (100% "Just So" free - there is no reason or moral attached to the elephant's creation), ending on a note similar to that of The Amazing Bone. The parents do go on with their quotidian lives, but they do so acknowledging the magic of the child's world.



Given a choice between object lessons in disillusionment in which parents are proved right about the existential emptiness of the world, or the unconditional and admiring love of Steigian parents, I'll take Steig and his lovingly weird and wondrous myths coupled with bright and whimsical illustrations, every time. ( )

This is an odd, funny book that has Steig all over it. Gorky is an imaginative fellow that many readers can relate to. The length of the text and smallish pictures do not make it the best all-class read-aloud.

Gorky the frog mixes a potion that makes him fly. He eventually lands on a rock, which becomes an elephant, and finds his way home to his incredulous parents. ( )