Once Upon an Elephant
by Linda Stanek (Author) and Shennen Bersani (Illustrator)
Booktalk: From slowing wildfires to planting seeds, one animal is the true superhero that keeps the African savanna in balance. Elephants dig to find salt that other animal lick, their deep footprints collect water for small creatures to drink, and they eat young trees to keep the forest from overtaking the grasslands. In every season, the elephants are there to protect the savanna and its residents but what would happen if the elephants were only once upon a time ? Discover the important role this keystone species plays in the savanna and explore what would happen if the elephants vanished.
Snippet: Once upon an elephant, the sun beat down on the hot, cracked earth. Rivers ran dry. The animals of the savannah risked dying from thirst.
But the elephants were there.
They dug in the riverbanks with their tusks. They cracked the hard soil, shoveled through mud, and reached water. And the animals gathered ’round and drank.
Linda is one of my former students!
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
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