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Ela’s World: A Global Adventure Picture Book

Meet Ela, a curious young elephant living in the zoo and dreaming of becoming an explorer when she grows up.

Ela is anxious to travel the world, meet different people, and speak new languages (a true Globe Trottin’ Kid!).

Join a unique global adventure in Ela’s World, a picture book with words by Laura Caputo-Wickham and illustrations by Davide Corradino.

Ela's World

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Ela’s World: A playful story about heritage and cultureEla's World

For her birthday, Ela gets the gift of a real-life adventure. Her parents give her a world map puzzle with four missing pieces. Ask readers if they can identify the four missing countries on the map. (Mexico, Madagascar, China, and India.)

Ela’s parents tell her that she will have to travel far and wide to find the missing puzzle pieces, and Ela excitedly sets off on her journey of discovery. Invite readers to share predictions of how and where Ela will find the pieces. Model how predictions can be revised as readers gather new information during the story.

Ela's World

As she arrives in different geographic sections of the zoo, an animal greets her in the native language, describes their home country, and hands Ela her missing puzzle piece. Practice the greetings and review the facts from each country.

From the luscious green forests of Mexico to the elephant’s homeland of India, Ela makes new friends, learns new languages, and discovers interesting facts about different countries.

After reading, review the story elements by asking readers to identify

  • setting (Where and when does the story take place?)
  • characters
  • problem
  • solution

And don’t miss the Did You Know? page at the end of the book for some fast facts about elephants, such as… They sleep standing up!

Ela's World    A Fish in Foreign Waters

Visit the author’s website to print free activities for the book and to check out her other picture book, A Fish in Foreign Waters a book for bilingual children.

Go Further Activities

  • Like all good explorers, Ela took a notepad on her adventure through the zoo for jotting down things she didn’t want to forget. Invite students to take notes while you read/reread the story by writing and/or drawing facts about each country.
  • Encourage further exploration through our country profile pages. Start with our interactive map and let kids choose more countries to explore. Each page includes information and activities for young explorers, teachers, and parents.

Go Even Further with our guided country research projects for young explorers!country research projects bundle

20 countries are sold individually – or save money & offer choice with our bundle.