03/04/2019
Wildlife photographs document the life of an elephant on the African savannah from newborn calf to 15-year-old adult. A gentle narrative details the calf’s early years spent protected by the herd, drinking her mother’s milk, and learning what it is to be an elephant. Photos show the elephants on the move (“the herd has to keep moving to find enough leaves, roots, grasses, fruits, and bark for all to eat”), greeting and playing with one another, and forming a united front in the face of a predator lion. Facts about elephant behavior and anatomy are integrated throughout the descriptive text: “made of almost 50,000 muscles, including two ‘fingers’ at the end, an elephant’s trunk is a very useful tool.” When the elephant is a full-grown adult, the story comes full circle with the birth of a new calf: “Together, with flapping ears and loud trumpet sounds, they welcome their newest member.” Ages 3–9. (Jan.)
Herd composition, social order, eating, drinking, and other habits, as well as, of course, facts about elephants' trunks, are all covered in accessible language. . . . The stock photographs are beautiful and exciting—and often heartwarming—and the layout, in white-framed boxes with text against pastel backgrounds, is appealing. A solid introduction to African elephants, with engaging photographs.” —Kirkus “When an African savanna elephant is born, she weighs around 200 pounds and can stand after a couple of hours. Over the coming year, the little elephant’s herd protects her while she nurses, plays, learns to use her trunk, and joins their walks to find food and water. She swims, then rolls in mud. A lion appears, but the adult elephants encircle the calf and face the predator with loud sounds, threatening tusks, and flapping trunks until he moves on. With a few sentences of pertinent text and a couple of large photos or several smaller ones on a double-page spread, the words and pictures together offer an appealing introduction to a young elephant’s first year. While the photos are drawn from varied sources, they represent the little elephant and her herd convincingly. A new book from the American Museum of Natural History, this is similar in concept and format to Baby Penguin’s First Waddles (2018) and Baby Dolphin’s First Swim (2017). An attractive addition for preschool and primary-grade units on elephants.” —Booklist “An elephant herd gets a new member when a female calf is born. She learns to stand, swim, roll in the mud, and play with friends. Through stunning color photography, commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History, this title captures the landscape of the African savanna and the milestones of the adorable baby elephant as she grows up with her herd. Using a loose linear time line of the calf’s life, the book offers facts about elephants and how they survive in the wild in easy-to-read text on pastel color blocks. . . . the story . . . comes full circle as the calf becomes an adult and welcomes the next generation of elephants. VERDICT A lovely choice for early nonfiction collections.” — School Library Journal “Wildlife photographs document the life of an elephant on the African savannah from newborn calf to 15-year-old adult. A gentle narrative details the calf’s early years spent protected by the herd, drinking her mother’s milk, and learning what it is to be an elephant. Photos show the elephants on the move (‘the herd has to keep moving to find enough leaves, roots, grasses, fruits, and bark for all to eat’), greeting and playing with one another, and forming a united front in the face of a predator lion. Facts about elephant behavior and anatomy are integrated throughout the descriptive text: ‘made of almost 50,000 muscles, including two “fingers” at the end, an elephant’s trunk is a very useful tool.’ When the elephant is a full-grown adult, the story comes full circle with the birth of a new calf: ‘Together, with flapping ears and loud trumpet sounds, they welcome their newest member.’” —Publishers Weekly
Winter 2018
PreS-Gr 2–An elephant herd gets a new member when a female calf is born. She learns to stand, swim, roll in the mud, and play with friends. Through stunning colorf photography, vetted for accuracy by the American Museum of Natural History, this title captures the landscape of the African savanna and the milestones of the adorable baby elephant as she grows up with her herd. Using a loose linear time line of the calf's life, the book offers facts about elephants and how they survive in the wild in easy-to-read text on pastel color blocks. Although the story seems to end abruptly, it comes full circle as the calf becomes an adult and welcomes the next generation of elephants. VERDICT A lovely choice for early nonfiction collections.—Hilary Tufo, Columbus Metropolitan Library-Reynoldsburg
2018-10-28
Numerous full-color photographs ostensibly follow the life of one African elephant from her first day on Earth to her 15th birthday—with plenty of basic elephant facts in between.
"On a hot day in the African savannah, a baby elephant is born." The initial sentence suitably trumpets its announcement with a bold, white "O" and the rest of the lettering in large black type. The text continues by interspersing the movements of this particular elephant—a female—with such facts as the weight of a typical newborn ("about 200 pounds"), the amount of time elapsing before baby's first step (generally "a couple hours" after birth), and the ways in which elephants greet their babies and then protect them. Herd composition, social order, eating, drinking, and other habits, as well as, of course, facts about elephants' trunks, are all covered in accessible language. There are at least six impressively large numbers incorporated into these facts, and none give a comparison to help young readers understand why those numbers are impressive. A child can readily compare their weight to a 200-pound baby elephant, but, for example, how do 50,000 muscles in a trunk compare with a human nose plus a hand? And what does 300 pounds of food look like? The stock photographs are beautiful and exciting—and often heartwarming—and the layout, in white-framed boxes with text against pastel backgrounds, is appealing.
A solid introduction to African elephants, with engaging photographs. (Informational picture book. 4-7)
