The shadow elephant
(Book)

Originally published in French: Varennes, Quebec, Canada : Comme des géants, 2019 under the title L'éléphant de l'ombre.

A gloomy elephant that wants to be left alone in the shadows ignores other animals' efforts to cheer him, until a mouse asks to rest near him and shares her story of loss.

This is a subtle story about an elephant who is feeling sorrowful, and nothing seems to interest him or lift his spirits. Illustrated with a striking contrast between shadow and light, the moody blue elephant appears to live in a different world from his colorful savanna friends. Empathy is a tricky emotion for children and adults alike to grasp, but The Shadow Elephant manages to walk the line between sadness, understanding, and emotional connection. Here we witness, in a story that unfolds at a natural, gentle pace, that it’s okay to be sad and to show it, and that this sorrow is not necessarily a problem to be fixed, but is a feeling to acknowledge without judgement. This simple act of acceptance and validating another creature's feelings is subtle, yet, it is an essential step to true empathy. --from Amazon.