Title: “The Eleventh Hour”
Author: Graeme Base
Genre: Picture Book
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Copyright Date: 1988
Pages in Book: 32
Reading Level: 3-7 grade
Summary: This is a book about a young elephant that turns eleven years old. He decides to throw a party, and invites eleven friends, makes eleven different treats, creates eleven party activities, etc. They all come to the party dressed up in different costumes, and once they enter Horace’s (the elephant) house, they see the table filled with wonderful treats and deserts. Horace informs them that they aren’t able to take apart of the food until the eleventh hour. So until then, they play games with the thought of that wonderful feast waiting for them. Once the eleventh hour comes around, they go to eat the food, but it’s all gone! Who stole all the food? (Throughout the entire book, the author tries to give you clues as to who ate the food) Once you have solved the mystery, you find out that Kilroy the mouse and 111 of his friends stole the food.
Reaction: Honestly, I didn’t like the book at all. I didn’t feel like it was age appropriate, nor did I feel that young children would be able to understand it. I couldn’t even figure out who stole all the food! Lucky for me, the answer was in the back of my book, but I highly doubt a young child would be able to figure out that mystery.
Recommendation: I wouldn’t recommend this book to young children. Maybe if their parents were there to help them, then yes. But otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend this.
Potential Problems/Conflicts: I thought the whole book was confusing. Even with all the clues that were given to us, I had a really hard time trying to figure out who the thief was. Also, the mice that the illustrator put in the pictures of all the “hidden mice” were barely seen! I had a hard time finding them, and even when I did find one of them, some of them barely looked like mice!
Oh man, this was one of my favorite books growing up. I LOVED it, even though I wasn't smart enough to figure out that it was Kilroy. I did spend hours and hours and hours deciphering the clues & poring over the beautiful pictures. It still stays with me, 20 years later, and caused me to randomly Google it tonight (which is why I stumbled upon your post.) I think it's great fun for kids who have a lot of time on their hands like I did, growing up in the country.
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