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Elephants: A Book for Children

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A glorious visual safari for children by best-selling photographer Steve Bloom. From Babar to Dumbo, the elephant has long fascinated children as well as their parents. Here, eighty stunning photographs encompass every aspect of the elephant's life and elephants big and small, African and Asian, in the wild and domesticated, at play and at rest. Whether taken from the air, from underwater, or from the side of a jeep, these images will capture the imagination of any child.

Steve Bloom's extraordinary photographs depict the elephants in their natural environment as well as in their unique relationships with people. Here are elephant babies playing in the dust, families rolling in the mud, polo-playing elephants, elephants at bath time, impressive herds roaming the plains, and much more. The entertaining texts by David Henry Wilson explain anything and everything of interest about elephants, from why they flap their ears to how much they weigh and how much they eat. 80 full-color photographs

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read

About the author

Steve Bloom

87 books2 followers
Steve Bloom is a South African photographer and writer. Son of journalist, novelist, and political activist Harry Bloom, he is best known for his photography books and essays as well as his large scale outdoor exhibitions called Spirit of the Wild.

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5 stars
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8 (16%)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for anca dc.
117 reviews5 followers
November 9, 2010
De n-as fi fost precum ma stiu,
Un elefant mi-as fi dorit sa fiu.


:) Mai pe larg, sa fiu maaare, gri (asta sunt, intr-un fel), blajina, vesela. Sa am cel mai minunat nas din lume, un auz ascutit si gene foarte luungiii. Sa ma bucur zgomotos si fluturos (pai, daca am urechi mari, pot!) si chiar sa fac pipi de multa bucurie ce-i in mine, iar intristarea-mi sa dureze zile in sir si chiar ani. Sa imi placa sa ma balacesc in noroi si sa inot, sa fiu jucausa si prietenoasa, iar prietenii mei cei mai buni sa fie pasarile. :)
Profile Image for L.S..
604 reviews57 followers
September 3, 2010
Steve Bloom is an amazing wildlife photographer. This album is a tresure, not only for the young but also for the "young at heart".
The high-quality pictures are amazing and the commntes are also inspired; describing the elephants becomes real fun.
Profile Image for Hilda.
1,324 reviews292 followers
May 17, 2018
An elephant is big and strong,
His tusks are sharp, his trunk is long.
He eats a lot and drinks a lot,
And rolls in mud when he’s too hot.
He likes to trumpet, dance and play,
But weeps when loved ones pass away.
He flicks his tail and flaps his ears,
And rumbles sounds no human hears.
I think that if I wasn’t me,
An elephant’s what I'd like to be.


This book is magnificent. It starts off with a poem and the way its formatted is amazing as well. There are five parts that specifically focus on certain subjects. The first is all about elephants it even compares an Asian elephant and an African elephant with beautiful pictures of both elephants. I was amazed at the pictures. This was a thrift store find and I’m going to be looking for more books by Steve Bloom to add to our classroom library. The photographs alone are amazing. Add all the different text structures and kid friendly language and you have the best animal book I’ve read in a very long time.
Profile Image for Kenneth Clayton.
256 reviews10 followers
December 5, 2019
Beautiful photographs paired with excellent text with concise facts and some humor mixed in. Read to my 2nd grade daughter as part of her learning zoology
311 reviews28 followers
November 10, 2013
Love how the book starts off with a nonfiction poem about elephants! The photographs in this book are gorgeous! This book is a great example to use when teaching students text structure because it has various structures throughout. For example, one double page spread compares the African and Asian elephant to one another and has photos to help show the differences between the two. Other double page spreads focus on describing one part of the elephants body such as trunks, tusks, ears, feet, etc. I will definitely be using this book to help teach various forms of note-taking by using the text structures. I also love how the author talks to the reader throughout the book and gives them real life examples so they can understand the facts such as looking at a pint carton of milk in fridge to understand and visualize that a baby elephant drinks 20 of those a day! Or by saying that an adult male eats about 700 lbs of food a day and that is like eating 2,000 apples or 700 loaves of bread. Also kids will laugh at this fact - elephants make about 80 pounds of dung a day which is about as high as 240 of those apples! I love these comparisons for kids!
Profile Image for Nicoletta Barrie.
Author 2 books
September 4, 2008
Back in 2006, Steve Bloom did a terrific “adult” book on elephants with a similar title to the children’s book. Elephant! took him 12 years to produce. Bloom showed elephants in habitat and intimate looks at their behavior, like elephants swimming and grieving, and mothers and their calves. With elephants, a book for children, Bloom has made another terrific book…this time, for children.

Within the chapters children are exposed to elephant behavior, social structure and their interaction with people and other animals. For example, in From Dawn to Dusk, we learn that elephants have 24 teeth (compared to our 32) but they use only the front 8. When those 8 wear down, the next set of eight move along to take their place. There’s a wonderful image—taken underwater looking up at a swimming elephant—that looks like the animal is suspended in space.

The text is short, but just long enough to introduce and explain the fascinating world of these fabulous giants to children.
Profile Image for Tiffany.
10 reviews
March 3, 2009
This is a great children's book, amazing pictures.
Profile Image for Nina.
24 reviews
August 8, 2011
great intro for kids to my favouite animal. I should adopt one!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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