The Elephant Girl
by James Patterson (Author), Ellen Banda-Aaku (Author), and Sophia Krevoy (Author)
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Booktalk: Clever, sensitive Jama likes elephants better than people. While her classmates gossip–especially about the new boy, Leku–twelve-year-old Jama takes refuge at the watering hole outside her village. There she befriends a baby elephant she names Mbegu, Swahili for seed.
When Mbegu’s mother, frightened by poachers, stampedes, Jama and Mbegu are blamed for two deaths–one elephant and one human. Now Leku, whose mysterious and imposing father is head ranger at the conservancy, may be their only lifeline.
Snippet: My personal hiding spot was just fifteen steps from the water hole. The water was light brown, and the edges were sloped and muddy from the paws and hooves of a thousand animals. Buffalo, monkeys, zebras, gazelles, lions. On one side, there was a fallen tree with dry, dead branches surrounded by green brush. On the other side were spiny bushes with round, dark fruit. Acacia treees surrounded the watering hole.
It was a quiet place–but dangerous. Which is why I kept it a secret.
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