Mother and child reading a book together

HOW THE ELEPHANT SAVED SUMMER

This is the tale of Esi, a young elephant who forms an unlikely friendship with a baobab tree. Despite elephants being known for damaging baobabs to access stored water, Esi ends up becoming the tree’s best friend and the hero of summer.

A young boy with an afro lying on top of an elephant trunk.
Refiloe Moahloli, author of How the Elephant Saved Summer.

Refiloe Moahloli

AUTHOR

Refiloe’s career as a writer of children’s books started when she was inspired to write a story for her nieces that celebrated who they are and where they come from. A story in which there is a sharing and exchange of their language and culture with others. This grew into her debut children’s book: How Many Ways Can You Say Hello?

How the Elephants Saved Summer is another original South African folktale by Refiloe, and it was inspired by the uniqueness of the baobab tree. When looking for interesting facts around this big and bold tree, she found that elephants can be a threat to it. Because they know that baobabs store water inside their tree trunks, in times of water scarcity they will look to them for their supply – tearing through the bark. But that is not the story she set out to tell. This is the story of a little elephant called Esi who befriends the big baobab tree and ends up saving summer.

Katlego Keokgale, illustrator of How the Elephant Saved Summer.

Katlego Keokgale

ILLUSTRATOR

Katlego is a young mom and talented modern artist who's excelled at bringing expressive characters to life. She has multiple international titles to her name and has worked on another book with Refiloe Moahloli set to be released by Pan MacMillan. You can check out her work at behance.net/Kady.

Let’s get reading!