“I was born right where I live, in the same room where I still slept every night. It was all I’d ever known, and it made me feel safe to know this land, it’s smell, it’s sounds, like I knew my own body.”

Jama is a 12-year-old girl living in Kenya. She loves elephants more than she loves most people. Jama wants more than marriage and motherhood. She wants an education and autonomy.

Jama’s secret place to relax is the elephant watering hole where where she is allowed to wander. One day she witnesses the birth of a baby elephant and feels a close bond to that baby. Soon, Jama discovers that a man who is paid to protect the elephants is working with poachers. She wants to save the elephants.

Jama’s father has been dead for years and then her mother dies, too. Jama has to find her own way in the world. She does it through caring for the elephants.

This is a wonderful coming of age, family-friendly story that also touches on some of the problems facing Kenya and other African countries.