She Leads: The Elephant Matriarch

In She Leads: The Elephant Matriarch, June Smalls teaches the world about elephants and the majestic creatures they are. The matriarch, the head female, who is often the oldest, leads others with her wisdom and guidance. Though male elephants typically leave the clan around the age of thirteen, females stay for the duration of their lives. When a baby elephant is brought into the world, after twenty-two months of the mother enduring pregnancy, raising the calf becomes a collective effort in which grandmothers, aunts, and sisters all play an integral part. These amazingly sophisticated and almost human-like animals can live up to seventy years in the wild and have been known to bury the dead, later returning to the site to touch the bones in sacred remembrance.

This book is the perfect length for young children wishing to expand their knowledge of these fascinating mammals. Though it only spans thirty-two pages, it’s full of intriguing facts and warm illustrations that sweep across the pages in soft, light-colored hues. While the reading level is approximately third-grade, this compelling picture book will likely appeal to a much broader audience—children between the ages of five and nine. The layout and design of the book are unique, but not optimal in that the simple facts are printed in the large, colorful font; while the detailed information is presented in a grayish font that is tiny in size, making it a bit elusive and difficult to see. Overall, however, this is a high-quality text, making it suitable for any school library or elementary school classroom.