Also written and/or illustrated by Lane Smith: Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated) The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs Big Plans Madam President The Big Elephant in the Room by Lane Smith Ages 3-7 32 pages Disney Hyperion July 2009 Hardcover     "Can we talk about the big elephant in the room?" asks one of the two donkeys featured in this picture book. "'The big elephant?' As in 'the BIG problem?' I was expecting this," replies the other donkey. The donkey goes down a list of things he has done that might have hurt his friend's feelings. From not sharing crunchy-nut ice cream or forgetting to return a video game to telling people he laughed so hard that he peed his pants, the litany is a long one that shocks the donkey's buddy. Continuing, the guilty donkey thinks the big elephant "thing" might be his burping in the cafeteria or perhaps picking his friend last when they selected teams for baseball. Or maybe it was making fun of the other donkey's Rainbow Pony backpack. Nope, that's not it! The question actually concerns the big - the very big - elephant sitting in the corner of the room. Oops! There has been a big, a very big, misunderstanding here. Now guess who has to do some damage control? A silly story about a simple verbal misunderstanding, this amusing book features equally funny illustrations that show quite graphically just how badly one of the donkeys sticks his foot in his big mouth!     web reviews   Bob Walch/2009 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)