Elephant Quest - Hardcover

Lewin, Ted

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688141110 ISBN 13: 9780688141110

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2000

Synopsis

Ted and Betsy Lewin arrive in the Okavango Delta of Botswana in February -- the rainy season. Because there is always water in the delta, it is rich in animal life: hippos, Cape buffalo, lions, leopards, wildebeest, lechwe, giraffes, and some seventy thousand elephants! It is the elephants that Ted and Betsy have especially come to see. As they make their way through the flooded grasslands,they encounter impalas, baboons, wild dogs, and a huge crocodile--but where are the elephants hiding?

In Elephant Quest, Ted's realistic paintings and Betsy's field sketches illuminate the real-life adventure story of this exhilarating and often dangerous trip to the Moremi Reserve.

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children 2001--selected by Natn'l Science Tchrs Assoc. & Child. Bk Cncl.

About this title

About the Author

Ted Lewin grew up in an old frame house in Buffalo, New York, with two brothers, one sister, two parents, a lion, an iguana, a chimpanzee, and an assortment of more conventional pets. The lion was given to his older brother, Don, while he was traveling as a professional wrestler, and he shipped it home. The family kept Sheba in the basement fruit cellar until Don returned and their mother convinced him to give it to the Buffalo zoo.

Ted always knew he wanted to be an illustrator. As a child he copied the work of illustrators and painters he admired, including N. C. Wyeth, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, VelÁzquez, and Goya. When it came time to go to art school (Pratt), he needed to earn money to finance his education. So, following in his brother’s footsteps, he took a summer job as a wrestler -- the beginning of a 15-year part-time career that eventually inspired his autobiographical book I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler. Ted’s career as an artist began with illustrations for adventure magazines, and it’s only over the last several years that he has devoted his time to writing and illustrating children’s books. "I’m having more fun doing this than anything I’ve ever done before," he says. He is an avid traveler, and many of his books are inspired by trips to such places as the Amazon River, the Sahara Desert, Botswana, Egypt, Lapland, and India. His Market!, published in 1996, showcases markets around the world, from Uganda to Ireland to Ecuador.

Touch and Go is a collection of stories about the adventures Ted had while researching his books. Gorilla Walk is his first collaboration with his wife, Betsy, and is about their trek to see the mountain gorillas in Uganda. They’ve just completed their second collaboration, Elephant Quest, set in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Ted’s current project is about a Civil War drummer boy.

Ted and Betsy live in Brooklyn, New York, where they share their home with two cats, Slick and Chopper.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up-Botswana's Moremi Reserve, with its grasslands muddy and lush from flooding rains, is the setting for the Lewins' latest wildlife quest. As in Gorilla Walk (Lothrop, 1999), they provide a day-by-day account of their search in economical text, deft sketches, and fine watercolor views of animals encountered along the way. The search for elephants takes four days of close meetings with a hippo, lions, kudus, wild dogs, impalas, warthogs, Cape buffalo, giraffes, a male leopard, lechwe, wildebeest, and other denizens of the delta. The daily ventures are made in "-a special Hilux truck that can plow through water like a hippo," the only sign of human intrusion in the vast, watery delta. Though the authors and their guide are shown briefly, the emphasis is strictly on the splendid animals encountered each day. The richness of landscape is only broadly suggested in the bright, hazy scenes. Bits of drama unfold as the authors describe the tensions between predators and their prey. The final bold encounter with the elephants is a more satisfying denouement than the brief glimpse of the gorillas in the earlier foray. An introductory map, two informative concluding pages of elephant facts, and an index round out this beautifully rendered introduction to the region's wildlife and ecology that is also a tantalizing adventure story.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0688141110
• ISBN 13: 9780688141110
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Lewin Betsy