The Elephant Girl

James Patterson's The Elephant Girl is a heartfelt animal story for 10 year olds about a Maasai girl in Kenya who would much rather spend time with elephants than people.

What happens

Jama is twelve. She lives with her Momma and her Baba's great-aunt, who is about a hundred and has a proverb for everything. Her Baba died four years ago, and she still misses him every day.

At school she's clever and a bit of an outsider. Her best friend Nadira has started talking about nothing but boys and getting married. Jama wants a big life. She dreams of going to university and learning how to help animals.

So she has a secret. Deep in the bush, well past where she's allowed to go, there's a watering hole where a herd of elephants comes to drink. They know her. She's given them all names.

The book opens with Jama hidden in the bushes as one of them gives birth (it's gently done, and quite amazing). Weeks later, the baby toddles over, reaches out her trunk and ends up flopped in the mud on top of Jama. Jama names her Mbegu, which is Swahili for seed.

Those scenes are just lovely. You really feel how huge and gentle the elephants are, and how safe Jama feels with them.

There's plenty of village life too. A warriors' ceremony full of dancing and jumping. Beaded sandals, a goat to milk and a mum who'd quite like her daughter to fit in.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Worth knowing before you hand it over, as this one has real weight to it. Jama's father died from an infected cut, and sometimes she blames herself. She secretly sees the new boy's father raise a stick to beat him (she runs off before it lands). Poachers are hunting elephants for their tusks, and a man with a gun turns up by the water. Later on, the elephants stampede, two lives are lost, an elephant's and a person's, and Jama gets the blame. There's also a brief mention of starting periods.

For a child who finds harm to animals or family violence upsetting, this may be too much. If your reader loves animals and is ready for a story that takes them seriously, it's a beautiful, thoughtful read.

What to read next

If they fall for Jama and Mbegu, try The Girl Who Stole an Elephant, about a fearless girl thief, a royal elephant and a dash out of a palace.