The Elephant Keeper: Caring for Orphaned Elephants in Zambia

The Elephant Keeper: Caring for Orphaned Elephants in Zambia by Margriet Ruurs and illustrated by Redro Covo

Margriet Ruurs is a Canadian author (British Columbia), qualifying this read for the 12th annual Canadian Book Challenge.

I have a fondness for books about conservation and animal rescue, and this book is a double whammy.  Aaron helps with the rescue and care of a young orphaned elephant.  In the process he discovers a passion for helping these beautiful animals that are not the terrifying and horrible beasts he grew up hearing about.

The story is moving with some lovely illustrations.  In a couple places the book breaks to interject some facts and figures about elephants.  The content was interesting and important, but my involvement in the story was broken up in the process of reading these details.  I can see where it might be useful to help connect with the real deal, but I feel it might have done more harm than good.  Personally, I ended up skipping over these parts to finish the story and easily could have not missed them altogether.  I feel they might have been better at the end of the book, when, having finished tehstory, a reader would want to learn more.

In the end you learn that Aaron is a real person who really is one of the elephant keepers at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery.  Overall, I enjoyed and appreciated the book and story.