The Elephant Who Liked to Smash Small Cars

The title of this 1964 picture book (just brought back into print by—of course—NYRB Classics) may be the greatest in the history of publishing—how could you not want to read about its hero's oddly specific compulsion?—and the story inside is just as straightforward and action-filled as you could hope. Merrill was best known for The Pushcart War, but this little fable of hers, written and illustrated with a simple, deadpan pleasure that matches the elephant's destructive glee, deserves to live forever, or at least as long as there are elephants and small cars—and big cars too (not to spoil the story).