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Summary
Summary
The savanna is not an easy place to live, even for African elephants, the largest land animals on earth. If it's a challenge for these 7,000-pound giants, what's it like for their newborn babies?
An infant elephant has precious little time to learn the incredible array of skills that are necessary to keep up, from projecting her voice across a 10-octave range to using the 100,000 muscles in her trunk to stay hydrated. But this giant-to-be has the perfect classroom--a family herd made up of her mother, sisters, cousins, and aunts. With their help and protection, she'll learn how to survive, how to thrive, and how to be an elephant.
Award-winning author-illustrator Katherine Roy's How to Be an Elephant delves into the intricate family dynamics at play in a typical African herd. Drawing upon the latest scientific research and Roy's own expedition to Kenya, and brimming with lush watercolor illustrations and detailed diagrams, this book vividly portrays the life and development of an elephant from an uncertain newborn into a majestic adult. As informative as it is beautiful, Roy's unique portrait of an elephant's life will captivate young explorers and animal lovers alike.
David Macaulay Studio
This title has Common Core connections.
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of 2017
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2017
Author Notes
Katherine Roy is the award-winning author and illustrator of Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands and How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild . She is also the illustrator for the Expeditioners series by S. S. Taylor and of Buried Beneath Us by Anthony Aveni. She loves science, history, and big adventures, and is endlessly fascinated by the way things live. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she currently lives in with her husband and young son in Oregon, where she's still learning how to be a human. You can visit her website to learn more about her work, her research, and African elephants.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Roy follows her masterly Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands with a stunning look at how a newborn elephant matures into a capable member of the herd. The work adroitly covers anatomy, environment, family life, and other topics. Roy emphasizes how elephants, with their "it takes a village" approach to rearing young, rely on their intricate social structure for survival. Large illustrations of a calf romping, splashing, and marching with the herd are interspersed with captivating diagrams and smaller images that expand on the lucid text, making clever use of visual metaphors (for example, a picture of a pocketknife demonstrates the many ways an elephant uses its trunk). The young elephant cuts a cuddly figure, but Roy never anthropomorphizes. Her deftly shaded, earth-tone illustrations effectively bring to life everything from the dusty African savanna to the wrinkled skin of the elephants. In-depth back matter lists age-appropriate websites, films, and books. The scientific articles Roy cites and her author's note about her trip to Kenya are a testament to her meticulous research. VERDICT Though materials on pachyderms are plentiful, this stellar addition stands out from the crowd; a must-have for collections serving elementary school students.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In a richly informative follow-up to Neighborhood Sharks, Roy uses a baby African elephant's efforts to adapt to the world as a springboard to discuss the characteristics that make these creatures so distinctive. Roy's forceful watercolors convey a sense of movement and energy, with sweeping lines in violet, gray, brown, and pale blue. Interspersed diagrams help readers get a better sense of elephants' anatomy (including whimsical touches such as comparing a trunk to a Swiss army knife outfitted with a snorkel, trumpet, shovel, and more), while the central narrative dives into how the animals communicate, stay cool, and more. Immersive illustrations and careful attention to detail in both the text and art combine to create a rewarding study of a remarkable animal. Ages 7-11. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Elaborate watercolor paintings and scientific diagrams accompany detailed information about African elephants. The bold, sparse, poetic text that appears intermittently throughout the book clarifies the fact that elephants, like humans, need many years of socialization to become fully realized. The rest of the text is dense and set in two textbooklike columns of reasonably leaded small print. This text goes beyond elephant upbringing, delving into the hows and whys of elephant anatomy. A sophisticated vocabulary and some understanding of basic science are prerequisites for engaging with most of the text. For example: "A bouquet of aromas made of tiny odor molecules travels a few feet up her extra-long nasal cavities to land on supersized nasal folds that are covered with highly sensitive receptor cells." (Overall, readers might find themselves wishing the sentences were rather shorter.) Some of the final pages give a good summary of elephants and ecologyboth local and global. The frequent illustrations are arresting and informative, ranging from broad brush strokes that show elephants in action to the humorous, carefully detailed depiction of a parodied Swiss army knife that demonstrates all the uses of an elephant's trunk. The newborn baby elephant, surrounded by surprisingly beautiful ribbons of afterbirth material, is a stunning blend of natural science and art. Solid information for wildlife enthusiasts, enhanced by thoughtful artwork. (author's note, sources, acknowledgements) (Informational picture book. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Roy's skill in bringing meaningful nonfiction to a young audience was recognized with her Sibert Honor Book Neighborhood Sharks (2014). Her outstanding new offering allows readers to walk alongside the newest addition to an African elephant herd and learn just what it takes to be an elephant. Stylized watercolors and scientific diagrams mingle on the page as Roy reveals a baby female elephant's journey to adulthood through a mixture of simple narrative and more detailed, scholarly text. Told through a series of lessons, the book starts with the simple act of walking and zooms in on the elephant's leg bones and fatty, shock-absorbing heel pad. Now able to move with the herd, the baby takes in the many smells around her, and Roy unlocks the secrets of her trunk, which is not only a super sniffer but also a strong and versatile appendage that gets likened to a Swiss Army knife. As the book progresses, Roy holds readers' attention with her approachable writing style and astonishing statistics. Diet, communication, herd dynamics, cooling techniques, and charge attacks (first learned by playfully chasing birds) are all touched upon. Roy also explains elephants' importance as a keystone species, and in a heartfelt author's note, she speaks to humanity's impact on and responsibility toward this magnificent animal. An exceptional and arresting resource for the primary grades.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Jellyfish, flamingoes, butterflies; pandas, zebras, vipers. This beautifully illustrated oversize compendium will be a treat for anyone who likes to look at and think about the staggering variety of animals on this planet. Davies ("King of the Sky") has a degree in zoology and a clear passion for animal life. A brief verse on each spread is both awed and intimate - "The panda walks alone," she writes, "and the reason for its color / we may never really know" - leaving ample space for Horacek's vividly colored, painterly art. INKY'S GREAT ESCAPE The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape By Casey Lyall. Illustrated by Sebastiâ Serra. 32 pp. Sterling. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Few stories of animal escapades rival octopus escapes for mindboggling fun. Lyall embellishes wildly on the story of Inky, who broke out of a New Zealand aquarium in 2016. This Inky is a raconteur and a patient opportunist who escapes on a dare from his tankmate, Blotchy. Inky's physical feats are, of course, incredible: He makes himself "flat as a piece of seaweed," then coils his body into a rope, slipping down the drain and out to the ocean. With Technicolor flair, Serra's madcap cartoony illustrations rev up the story even more. RED & LULU Written and illustrated by Matt Tavares. 40 pp. Candlewick. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) Redand Lulu, a devoted pair of cardinals, live year-round in a giant pine tree overlooking the snug house of a family of humans. But the tree is chopped down and strapped to a truck, with Lulu in its branches. Red's journey to find his mate makes for gorgeous sweeping vistas and heightened emotion, especially when he finds her in the illuminated branches of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Tavares ("Crossing Niagara") lets the holiday note waft lightly, bringing equal cheer to the celebration of pair-bonding and New York City. FEATHER By Cao Wenxuan. Illustrated by Roger Mello. 48 pp. Elsewhere Editions. $18. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) I believe a good picture book comes close to philosophy; the great Chinese children's author Cao writes in the introduction to this lovely and, yes, profound tale of a feather searching for the bird it belongs to. As Feather is rebuffed by a heron, a peacock, a wild goose and more, we glimpse each bird's personality and sense of purpose, and we feel Feather's longing for self-knowledge and a home. Mello's striking art makes each page a bright color, each avian portrait an evocative surprise. The book's boxlike design looks special, too. HOW TO BE AN ELEPHANT Growing Up in the African Wild Written and illustrated by Katherine Roy. 48 pp. Roaring Brook. $18.99. (Picture book; ages 7 to 11) From Babar to Little Elliot, fictional elephants have charmed generations of kid readers. But make room for this account of real-life elephants that follows a baby through her first two years, explaining elephant society and biology and how the young learn. The energetic illustrations are whimsical on one page, scientifically precise on the next. As in her wonderful "Neighborhood Sharks," Roy reels you in with startling facts, then shows how a dominant species is really vulnerable, dependent on humans to choose to practice conservation. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation of this week's column is at nytimes.com/books.