This book has a giant flaw. At first it seems innocent and cute, until you realize the mice are resorting to violence to get what they want. Elephants are big and they like to look at the sky. They do not pay attention to where they are walking. Mice are little and constantly in fear of the elephants crushing them. The story mentions that someone tried to talk to the elephants, but they were closed minded and didn’t listen. So the mice retaliated by asking their cousins to help out by dropping pepper all over the elephants to make them sneeze and look down. The mice are complaining that the elephants are bullies, but they really are not. They are not intentionally trying to step on the mice. However the mice purposely cause the elephants to be sick. I think the author mislabeled who the bully was. Plus as I read this, I see so many issues that you would see in our news, groups of people mad about how things are going down, and wanting to do something like kick people out of the country, or threats to “take over” or even do harm to people. This book goes entirely in the wrong direction. It’s almost like a certain orange political figure telling their followers to “stop the steal” only in this case it is mice saying, hey those guys are bullies, just because they are big. I really wanted to like this one, and I just can't.

This is a delightful story explaining why elephants are terrified of mice. The jungle is home to many elephants and mice as well. Elephants live happily and carefree and they eat and sleep whenever they choose. The mice on the other hand have a BIG problem... it's not hunger or sleep... it's the HUGE pachyderms' feet! You see the elephants wander around aimlessly always looking up admiring the birds, the mountains, and the surrounding scenery. They never look down and realize that they are endangering the mice population who they stomp upon and oftentimes spray with their disgusting poop. Yewwwww! Now that's a problem!

The mice have had it with the elephant's selfish uncaring ways and they hatch a plan to irradiate the problem forever. They call upon their cousins the bats to sprinkle the elephants with pepper and when the elephants continually sneeze they will look down and at long last notice the tiny mice and realize the danger they have been putting them in. Will their clever plan work? Will the mice finally get justice and live in safety and happiness too?

The illustrations are hilarious and fun. Kids always love "potty" events and the fact that the underdog, in this case the small undermice win! The story explains why elephants are fearful of mice to this very day. I highly recommend this silly book which will have kids giggling and cheering the mice on to victory!

I adore these illustrations. These elephants and mice could not be cuter. And to pair with it this giggle worthy story? Well, that's almost too much goodness. This story of course explains why elephants are fearful of mice. What a delight.

I love the idea that the author here is trying to explain the elephant's fabled fear of mice. Clever story idea and really cute art, but for me the execution was not really up to what I had hoped.

The mice are just trying to live their lives, but the elephants are making that difficult. The elephants refuse to watch where they are going. Due to the elephants’ lack of empathy, the mice live in constant fear of being stepped on or having poo drop on them from above. The mice attempt to discuss the issue with the elephants numerous times, but the elephants refuse to consider anyone else.

Finally, fed up with the way they have been treated, the mice come up with a plan to force the elephants to look at them and listen. Don’t let the cute illustrations sway you away from the true message of the book. When those in power refuse to listen, sometimes the oppressed need to do something to get their attention. Rafael Ordonez’s The Pepperstorm speaks to the need for empathy, understanding, and sticking up for oneself in the face of bullies.

Yikes! I thought this would be a fun little book about elephants and mice and learning to get along in productive ways, but that was not the case. The mice were afraid and responded to that fear with mean instead of kindness. The story ends with mice feeling triumphant, but elephants suffering. I just wish the story would have been different. This is not the values I want to instill in my students.

This was a cute, silly little children’s story! It has adorable art and some pretty deep messages wrapped up in a fun way that I think kids will love to read about.

It shows that you should be more considerate of your surroundings and of those around you. You are not the only one who exists so making sure you’re not doing any harm as you go about life, helps not only you but everyone around you. I think detailing this with elephants and a group of mischievous mice was a great way to portray this!

I recommend this for any kid who needs a fun story with colourful, easy to follow art and story.

4/5 ⭐️

Pretty hilarious story of how mice got elephants to look down and notice them! I think littles will find this story pretty amusing. I liked the illustrations.