A cute book that tells that do not judge others by how they look. It is also about making friends instead of creating war. Tilly thinks Tank is an elephant and Tank thinks Tilly is a Tank and after a series of situations, they realize what the other is and becomes friends. Pictures are bright and colourful.

Tilly and Tank is a picturebook by Jay Fleck. Tilly the elephant is taking her morning stroll when she notices something strange on the horizon. Is it another elephant? The newcomer has a trunk and tail, but he's a very curious shade of green. Tank, on the other hand, notices an odd-looking creature approaching. It has a barrel and a turret, like Tank, but is a curious shade of blue. Is it a new enemy tank? Tank's alarm sounds and he goes BOOM, scaring Tilly off. But when Tilly returns with a flower, Tank begins to understand that she might not be an enemy at all.

Tilly and Tank is a nice story about understanding, assumptions, and friendship. I think it speaks to the way many kids and adults make assumptions about others based on their own personality and experiences rather than taking the time to learn about the new things and people they encounter in the world. The illustrations are charming and do a good job of telling the story and giving life to the characters. This is an all around good read, with a lesson about prejudice, peace, and friendship. I think it is an important message, and one handled well here, in a way that is not so in your face that readers of all ages cannot enjoy the read.

I wasn’t a fan of “Tilly and Tank.” I didn’t understand why the tank was in Tilly’s neighborhood all by himself. I understood the message of friendship and peace, but I had a hard time ignoring the fact that other parts of the story were not explained.

"Tank and Tilly" is a sweet book about an elephant and a military tank that forge an unusual friendship.  Upon meeting, Tilly, the elephant, thinks the tank is a green elephant.  The tank, meanwhile, thinks Tilly is a blue enemy tank.  When Tilly approaches to say "hi" to the tank, the tank shoots at Tilly, sending her running.  Tilly tries again, but the tank responds by firing again.  Tilly, not willing to give up, sees flowers and decides to give them to the tank.  The tank fires a third time, but notices that Tilly was trying to give him a flower and realizes his mistake.  He then seeks out a very scared Tilly and gives her a bouquet of flowers, starting a beautiful friendship.

I love the message of persistence in this book.  Even when the tank scared Tilly away, Tilly continued to try to make peace.  She persisted until she was able to find a way to show the tank that she was a friend, not an enemy.  I also like the message about befriending people different from you.  I am constantly telling my kids to befriend the kid that others won't-- the child who acts a little weird, wears different clothes, ect. These friendships may mean the WORLD to that child.  The more books we can read to reenforce this message, the better!  

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

'Tilly and Tank' by Jay Fleck is a picture book about a most unusual friendship between an elephant and a military tank. The book teaches lessons about pursuing friendship and peace.

One morning, Tilly is out taking her walk when she sees a shape in the distance that kind of looks like another elephant. She wants to meet it. Meanwhile, Tank sees a tank shaped object in the distance and feels threatened. Tank reacts with noise and explosions. Is this any way to start a friendship?

I'll be honest and say that I thought the anti-war message would beat the reader over the head, but that's not what happens here. Besides being a book about choosing peace over violence, it's also a book about reaching out to make unusual friends. War may be a subject that is hopefully unfamiliar to the young readers of this book, but the pursuit of friendship is always a good lesson. Jay Fleck's story and illustrations are really nice.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Tundra Books, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Great kids book!! Love the illustrations and the idea that an elephant can make friends with a tank. Love how this friendship came to be.

A cute little children’s book that teaches kids not to judge others by how they look. Tilly the elephant and Tank the tank meet in the jungle, and after some initial fear, find they have more in common than not.

Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I officially hate this book. Yes I actually hate this book. It's about an elephant who tries to make friends with a tank. The tank responds by firing. I don’t care that at the end they become friends. The tank shot at the elephant. I realize this is supposed to be an allegory about finding common ground, or knowing who your friends are, but to this reader all I see is war mongering. Shooting before knowledge. We have enough of that in our world today that I do NOT need it in a children’s book. And the graphics where you are looking through the eyepiece target identifier of the tank. Horrible. Just flat out sad. It glorifies violence, or at lease says violence is okay. Not in this house.

This is a sweet tale about Tilly the elephant. One day she is out taking her morning stroll when she happens to spot something unusual in the distance. She carefully studies the silhouette and concludes by its shape that it must be another elephant. It certainly looks like it has a trunk and a tail just like her but it is army green instead of blue like her.

Happily Tilly approaches the stranger and the alien's alarm sounds, 'WEE-OOO!WEE-OO! WEE-OO!" Unafraid of the loud noise Tilly walks closer and closer to the noisy green elephant and inspects him from head to tail. He certainly is different from her. She clears her throat and says, "Hello."

"BOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOM!!! was his reply. Badly frightened Tilly runs for cover with her eyes closed. In her safe space she peeks out and analyses just what happened. Perhaps that is how the new elephant says hello in his own language she reasons. After another try of approaching him she receives the same results..."BOOOOOOOOO OOOOOM!!! Oh boy, Tilly heads for the hills!!!!

Determined Tilly doesn't give up. One last try brings victory to both Tilly and that strange elephant who really is a tank on patrol. A beautiful friendship blossoms between the two and they find lasting companionship even though they are very, very different. The message is very clear... through kindness and tolerance, friendship and peace can become a beautiful reality.

The simple illustrations are full of expression and action greatly enriching the story. I love the book and would totally recommend it It is very creative thinking.

I thought this was a sweet story about overcoming misunderstandings, persistence, and building friendship. The illustrations are bright, colorful, and adorable. My children enjoyed having this book read to them.

Tilly and Tank by Jay Fleck celebrates friendship in the most unlikely pairs.

What I Like About This Book

A strong vocabulary is a precursor to reading. Parents who choose books with unique words (words that you don't use in everyday conversation) help strengthen this skill so when the child begins to independently read she has a huge background of words to pull from. Tilly and Tank uses 23 words that you most likely don't use when you talk with your child. Words like curious, detected, barrel, turret, puzzled and so much more. We call these million dollar words. Use them throughout the day to help reinforce the new word. It can take 10-15 times of word use for the new word to stick. Pick a few new words after the reading and find various ways to enrich your child's vocabulary.

The simple, bright illustrations are easy to follow and highlight print awareness (knowing the parts of books and how to follow along the pages.) The text moves around with the pictures, so get your finger ready and follow the word trail. Not only does it highlight the print, it will also help your child connect the sounds they hear with the words on the page.

Simple narratives help pre-literate children learn to exercise their storytelling muscles. The simpler the story at a young age, the easier it is for the child to recall and retell after a few readings. Not only that, but as a parent guide your child with questions about the story that aren't in the text. Ask what you think Tilly might be feeling when she sees the stranger from far away? Why do you think Tank responded the way he did (Good way to use a new word and help reading comprehension) In addition there are a lot of different emotions at work in the story and highlighting them and then talking about times your child might have felt the same way not only builds narrative skills, but helps the child better connect to the story and produce a positive reading experience.

Tilly and Tank isn't just a refreshing story about friendship, it also hits many early literacy skills which will build strong future readers!

This was an adorable read about how first impressions can sometimes be mistakes and how friendship can blossom between two very different things, in this case a tank and an elephant, if you just let a little kindness in and never give up trying to make new friends and finding common ground. Overall, its a good message for kids to hear

I received this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute! I loved the little tank and the little elephant learning to become friends as they looked a like! The illustrations were were humorous and cute, too! I am going to look out for a hard copy to see the illustrations in color; i bet they look much better, but I only have a Kindle which is b/w. It confused me at the beginning, who's blue and who's green? Elephants aren't either color! I still like the story and hope a color edition will offer clarity.
I received a free Kindle copy from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review

This children's story is oozing with cuteness from the illustrations up to the characters. The charming story is also quite appealing that young kids will definitely adore. And it teaches them that despite the differences of people, it will not be a hindrance to be friends with one another. Another subliminal lesson of this book is that the solution to war or conflict is peace and love, which how Tilly demonstrated when Tank was being hostile.

Well this book is definitely adorable, I'll give it that. I did enjoy it but I'm left with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, which seems odd considering the aforementioned adorableness. I think it is just trying a bit too hard to hit me over the head with it's message, because it is trying very hard to do that, flowers in the gun barrel and all.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are some very interesting choices in this picture book. I have to admit that I found the idea of a tank shooting at an elephant a little disquieting. However, both characters are so cute that you can almost look past the fact that one of them is an emblem of war.
Tilly sees Tank and assumes it's a friend but Tank sees Tilly and assumes she's an enemy. This can be a great book for helping children understand that others have had different life experiences which change how they see the world. Tank realizes his mistake and the two become friends, but it isn't an instant thing, Tilly approaches several times before managing to make a friend of Tank.
As an aside, I really love the endpapers on this book; they are just really cute as are Tilly and Tank.

Tilly and Tank was a beautiful story about friendship, perspective, preconceived notions and thinking through situations. Tilly and Tank both demonstrated perseverance as they worked through a problem. Neither character was willing to walk away from a potential friendship without really examining the possibilities. I loved the illustrations and found the plot line wonderful, I can't wait to share with title with my class.

This is a really nice book that encourages you to make friends not war - it is a great children's book and sadly it is a book that quite a few grown ups in senior government roles could do with reading!