Help save elephants

AUTHOR: AH Benjamin ILLUSTRATOR: Adrie le Roux PUBLISHER: Bumble Books

WHAT happens when you wish for something really hard?

Our hero, Mr Tusker, has loved elephants since he was a child, even pestering his parents for an elephant of his own.

He has dreamed about them and what fun he could have.

But wherever he went everyone told him, “Elephants don’t grow on trees.” As he grew up, he explored every opportunity to own this extraordinary mammal but all to no avail – he was met with the same response. Undeterred, he set out on a quest to find his own elephant. After a visit to Africa, he found some unusual fruit and, with part-time witch Miss Read’s intervention, something very odd happened.

This charming book brings together the real and the imaginary in a series of beautifully illustrated tales, creating stories within the story.

The message on conservation is strong and the author has requested that royalties on sales of this book are to be donated to the Thula Thula Conservation Fund in support of its elephant conservation work.

British children’s writer

Attia Benkerif, writing as A H Benjamin, has more than 40 picture and early-reader books, many of which have been translated into foreign languages, including Afrikaans.

Benkerif is a father of four and a grandfather of five young children “who have all been my inspiration for writing”.

“I live with my wife in a small town in Lincolnshire in the UK. I’m not great or special or exciting but I am happy.”

He said he became a writer almost by accident.

“I never thought I would be an author one day… when my eldest daughter was about 3 I started telling her bedtime stories – made up on the spot. It was fun for both of us. Then I decided to write the stories and that became a hobby. After a few years I tried my luck with magazine and annual publishers and I was surprised by how successful I was. Then in 1987 I had my first picture book published. More and more followed… a good story for children is an interesting storyline as plot, credible characters and a strong narrative.

“And don’t forget humour: it’s absolutely vital in children’s books. If you wish to write for children respect them; don’t preach to them, they won’t like it.”