book cover

Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency

by Cressida Cowell, illustrated by Neal Layton

Interest age: 4 to 6
Reading age: 5+

Published by Hodder Children’s Books, 2016

  • Adventure
  • Picture books

About this book

Emily, her rabbit Stanley, and their friend Matilda (who, by the way, is an elephant) are doing Very Important Things and having Great Adventures, but keep getting interrupted by the emergency telephone. Its Matilda's mum, who's worried Matilda doesn't have her wellies, or will miss her tea, or is going to get eaten by crocodiles.

Emily's as strong-willed and fun as ever, telling Matilda's worrisome mum like it is: clean socks are NOT an emergency. But when the emergency telephone doesn't ring and Matilda's mum goes M.I.A., it's up to this little gang of friends to save the day.

As in all the Emily Brown books, Cressida Cowell and illustrator Neal Layton perfectly blend imaginative play with reality, cleverly presenting and solving the parental dilemma of protectiveness versus the freedom to explore: ultimately, perhaps the best thing to do when it comes to childhood adventuring is to join in.

About the author

Cressida Cowell is the number one bestselling author-illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once book series. How to Train Your Dragon is also an award-winning DreamWorks film franchise. Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust, a trustee for World Book Day and a founder patron of the Children's Media Foundation. She lives in Hammersmith with her husband, three children and a dog called Pigeon.

Cressida was our Writer in Residence in 2016–17 and the Waterstones Children's Laureate 2020–2021

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