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This is the delightful story of Dumbo, based on the hugely successful Disney film of 1941.
It recounts how a young pachyderm, born in a travelling circus, is first ridiculed; then, through the intervention of a tiny friend (much like in the previous Disney outing 'Pinocchio', only this time the cricket is replaced by a mouse) is encouraged to believe in himself in order to overcome the trials of life.
To do this he is told to turn his unique appearance into an asset and develop it into the career he'd always wished for.

The tiny voice of Timothy Mouse, like Jiminy Cricket, could be interpreted as the 'little voice' in all of us.
A further element of insecurity could be seen by the fact that Elephants are often made out to be fearful of mice in general folklore, and therefore the choice to use a mouse as Dumbo's surrogate consciousness cannot be understated.
Another metaphor used is the sense of liberation and quite literally souring through the air when Dumbo gains confidence and then plummeting to earth again when he doubts himself once more. Timothy employs a placebo 'magic feather' to divert Dumbo's attention from the enormity of the task at hand - which is getting a baby elephant airborne!
But when a crisis occurs and the feather is lost on the big night, Timothy is forced to reveal the truth to Dumbo, with the cliché that: the power was within him all along!
However with this new burst of confidence Dumbo becomes an overwhelming success and when asked what he wants in return for bringing fame to the circus, requests only that his mother's be released from her incarceration - when at the start if the story she was imprisoned for attacking a child in a crowd who mocked her young son's abilities.

It is a story of how, with self belief and determination, it is possible to overcome a handicap in an uncaring society to become a success.

In a change to the original animated film, where Dumbo was literally dumb, in this version of the story he is given a 'voice', with lines such as "I'll never be able to fly" and "Please let my mother out of her cage" which he says out loud. This really doesn't suit the silent film star's character any more than it does Tom & Jerry in the Hanna Barbera cartoons; and it could have been avoided by having Dumbo express the words as internal thought on the page.

I read this story with my six year old. The pace is much slower than some of the other books in this collection, and I could tell that half way through my child's attention was slipping a bit; but by pulling in some funny voices and a little ad-libbing, I was able to finish the story.

This overtly pretentious review was based on the 1978 edition. Other re-issues of the same book may contain different content to this one. ;) ( )

Dumbo was an elephant who was born with very large ears. The other elephants didn't want him in their circus act because people laughed at Dumbo's big ears. The circus made Dumbo be a clown which made him unhappy. His friend Timothy the mouse taught him how to fly and then he was a star of the circus. This story teaches children that looking or being different can be a good thing. It is important to find out what you are talented at and be confident in yourself and you can be the star.