Life in the Library with Ivory the Elephant follows a young elephant who struggles to remember and finds a method that works for him.

CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Palmetto Publishing has released Life in the Library with Ivory the Elephant, a picture book written by Alicen Flosi and illustrated by Sidra. The story is now available to readers. It is a read-aloud title for children ages 4 to 8, set entirely inside a public library where animals and people share the same rooms, the same books and the same everyday problems.

Ivory the elephant lives in the library and considers it the best place there is. There are books to read, games to play and crafts to make. Chloe the chameleon lives there too. Ryan comes in to see his friends, play video games and read graphic novels and books about superheroes. Ms. Kassie, the children’s librarian, is there every day. Flosi builds the setting out of small, familiar details, including blocks that need putting away and a birthday that is coming up soon.

The trouble starts with four words Ivory hears almost daily. Of course, you remember. Ms. Kassie says them kindly, about her birthday balloons and her favorite flavor of cake. Elephants never forget, she tells him. Ivory does forget. He loses names, forgets things he was supposed to do and cannot hold on to a color, while his Uncle Larry can recognize a friend after thirty years. Ivory begins to wonder whether he is a good elephant at all.

Alicen Flosi stated, “I wanted children to see that forgetting does not make you less. Ivory finds a way that works for him, and I hope young readers come away knowing there is more than one way to hold on to what matters.”

The book sits alongside gentle character stories about school, friends and feelings, and library storytime favorites featuring talking animals. Flosi spent twenty-five years teaching at the college level, work that shaped her interest in how young people learn and where they get stuck. The series grew out of her partnership with Sidra, an illustrator and animal lover based in Turkey. Themes include friendship, self-acceptance, memory and learning differences, and belonging within a community.

Life in the Library with Ivory the Elephant is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

About the Author: Twenty-five years of college teaching taught Alicen Flosi how young people learn, where they get stuck, and what makes a story stay with them. That experience sits underneath everything she writes. After a quarter century in academia, she decided to take a more creative approach to the work she already loved, and turned toward picture books that celebrate curiosity, problem solving, and the plain pleasure of reading.

The Life in the Library series grew out of a partnership with Sidra, an illustrator and fellow animal lover from Turkey. Together they built a world where animals are simply part of ordinary life. They live in the library, talk with the people who come through the doors, read books, and run into the same everyday troubles the rest of us do. Life in the Library with Ivory the Elephant is Alicen’s debut title. In it, an elephant who cannot always remember what he is supposed to remember feels he is failing at the one thing elephants are famous for, until a friend studying for a test shows him what a stack of notecards can do.

Alicen writes for children ages four to eight, and for the grown-ups reading aloud to them. Her aim is a story that is light and warm on the surface while quietly making the case that a difference is not a defect, and that a practical fix can come from watching a friend closely. She is especially interested in young readers who love animals, like happy endings, and enjoy working out a problem alongside a character.

About the Book:

Title: Life in the Library with Ivory the Elephant
Author: Alicen Flosi illustrated by Sidra

Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
ISBN-13: 9798318839467, 9798318839450
Available for interviews: Author, Alicen Flosi illustrated by Sidra

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SOURCE Palmetto Publishing