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What the Elephant Heard

Charlotte Guillain, Author

Sam Usher, Illustrator

Imprint: Welbeck Children's Books

Publication date: October 14, 2021

Category: Natural history

ISBN: 9781913519087

Imprint: Welbeck Children's Books

Publication date: March 16, 2023

Category: Natural history

ISBN: 9781803380117

Told in gentle rhyming verse, this beautiful non-fiction picture book follows the story of a herd of African elephants as they journey across the parched savannah in search for a water hole. The matriarch tells of all the sounds of the savannah, and how the landscape has changed over the years. Still, she remembers where to find water, just as her mother did before her.

Accompanying non-fiction pages at the end of the book include information on African elephants, their family structure and migration patterns, as well as the challenges of climate change, habitat loss and illegal poaching, and what we as readers can do to help.

Charlotte Guillain

Charlotte says she doesn’t come from anywhere because she moved around a lot when she was growing up. She always wanted to be a writer and worked as a bookseller before training to teach English as a Foreign Language. This took her to the Czech Republic and Ukraine, before she headed to Zanzibar to teach English to student nurses. On her return to the UK, Charlotte moved to Oxford where she started working in publishing before going freelance and writing children’s non-fiction. She now writes picture books and young fiction, both with her husband Adam, and on her own.

Sam Usher

Sam Usher studied illustration at the University of West England. His debut picture book Can You See Sassoon? was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize and the Red House Children’s Book Award. He lives in London with an ancient housemate, and when he’s not holding a pen and wobbling at paper, you’ll find him playing the piano, eating chocolate and trespassing.