Once Upon an Elephant is a beautifully illustrated, non-fiction book in story tale format for children. The author magically tells how important elephants are to their habitat in the African savanna, and how sad it would be should they become extinct.  Elephants play such an important role in the Savannahs.  When the river runs dry, they can dig holes to get water.  They eat the baby trees as they grow, so that the grassland does not become a forest.  They find the salt in the ground for all the animals who need the minerals.  They eat seeds pods and spread the seeds in their manure so that plants can grow from them, giving shade to the other animals.  Their foot prints allow for puddles to form and give water to the smaller creatures, like mice, insects and frogs.  The paths the trod help slow fires that form in the grassland.  They have such an important job to play in their environment, and this book does a great job of telling you about it.

Written for children ages 4-8 years old, this book can be enjoyed by all ages, particularly animal lovers. This book is a great addition to a child’s library. It teaches about keystone species, rainy season versus dry season and, of course, elephants. My children greatly enjoyed it and we all learned a lot about elephants which we had not known previously.

-Product review by Jen Altman, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August, 2016