Review: When Elephants Listen With Their Feet

Title: When Elephants Listen With Their Feet
Author: Emmanuelle Grundmann, Clémence Dupont
Genre: Picture Book, Nonfiction
Publisher: Pajama Press
Source: Publisher
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: March 16, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Explore the wild and wonderful world of animal senses! Featuring engaging text from ethologist Emmanuelle Grundmann, inviting art from illustrator Clemence Dupont, When Elephants Listen with Their Feet is a lively nonfiction book that encourages curiosity about – and respect for – the animals with which we share our planet.

Humans experience the world through sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. But what if you had the compound eyes of a fly, the whiskers of a cat, or a whale’s ability to sense magnetic north? There’s a whole world of surprising senses out there, and fascinating adaptations that have allowed animals to make use of them. We can’t interpret the faint vibration of an elephant’s faraway stomp, but learning how they keep in touch with family across the wide savannah helps us understand that we are more alike than different.

Review:

This picture book is about the amazing things that animals can do with their bodies. It goes through all five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell) and the unique ways that animals use the senses to interact with the world around them.

There are some animals, such as the golden mole, who don’t have eyes, but are able to “see” the world around them with scent. Elephants can communicate with stomping their feet and sending vibrations through the ground across long distances. Felines use their whiskers to sense the environment around them in the dark. Foxes use the earth’s magnets to hunt, always facing north-east to jump on their prey.

I didn’t know most of these fun animal facts before reading this book, so I found it fascinating. I think adults and children will enjoy this beautiful picture book!

Thank you Pajama Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read When Elephants Listen With Their Feet? What did you think of it?