100 books like Who's Hiding on the Savanna?

By Katharine McEwen (illustrator),

Here are 100 books that Who's Hiding on the Savanna? fans have personally recommended if you like Who's Hiding on the Savanna?. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Lois Looks for Bob at the Museum

Natasha Wing Author Of Squeak-a-boo!

From my list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an animal advocate and part-time pet sitter, I wanted to instill the love of animals to babies with a fun board book. I’ve always enjoyed the surprise factor of lift-the-flaps so I was thrilled when Squeak-a-boo! was published. These types of books make for wonderful interactive bonding moments between reader and baby. I hope you enjoy the books on this list, not only for their fun concepts and text, but also for their colorful illustrations. 

Natasha's book list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids

Natasha Wing Why did Natasha love this book?

Kids love cats and Lois is a wide-eyed black and white cat who is looking for her yellow bird friend, Bob.

In this museum location, Lois looks behind such things as a painting and a vase that are at the museum. She finds other animals but not Bob. Until the end of course! The colors are bright and in large blocks which 0-3 year olds will gravitate to.

This is one in series of Lois Looks for Bob books. Other topics include beach, home, and park. 

By Gerry Turley (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lois Looks for Bob at the Museum as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Little readers will love helping Lois search for her friend Bob behind museum artifacts and encountering their friends along the way in this quirky lift-the-flap book with a retro feel.

The next title in this quirky lift-the-flap book series from illustrator Gerry Turley appeal with their offbeat humor. Little readers will love helping Lois search for her friend Bob behind museum artifacts and encountering their friends along the way.


Book cover of Animal Families: Snow

Natasha Wing Author Of Squeak-a-boo!

From my list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an animal advocate and part-time pet sitter, I wanted to instill the love of animals to babies with a fun board book. I’ve always enjoyed the surprise factor of lift-the-flaps so I was thrilled when Squeak-a-boo! was published. These types of books make for wonderful interactive bonding moments between reader and baby. I hope you enjoy the books on this list, not only for their fun concepts and text, but also for their colorful illustrations. 

Natasha's book list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids

Natasha Wing Why did Natasha love this book?

This book helps young ones learn what daddy, mommy, and baby animals are called.

The guessing game part is after the text that asks what a baby is called. The child lifts the flap and finds out. At the end, kids find out what groups of the animals mentioned are called. Did you know that a group of hares is called a drove? Parents will learn things too!

The title Snow is a bit deceptive but the interiors deliver. 

By Jane Ormes (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Animal Families as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What is this book about?

Find out the different names for mother and father animals that live in snowy climates—then lift the flap to find the babies and learn what they are called. This striking, satisfying introduction to animal families features screen-printed artwork and bold neon ink to capture the attention and imagination of babies and toddlers.


Book cover of Picky Panda (With Fun Flaps to Lift)

Natasha Wing Author Of Squeak-a-boo!

From my list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an animal advocate and part-time pet sitter, I wanted to instill the love of animals to babies with a fun board book. I’ve always enjoyed the surprise factor of lift-the-flaps so I was thrilled when Squeak-a-boo! was published. These types of books make for wonderful interactive bonding moments between reader and baby. I hope you enjoy the books on this list, not only for their fun concepts and text, but also for their colorful illustrations. 

Natasha's book list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids

Natasha Wing Why did Natasha love this book?

This Panda is very certain about what he likes and doesn’t like.

You could say he’s very black and white about his opinions. And that’s why the mostly black-and-white paper cut illustrations work even more! Panda’s house is stark as well.

Then one day he begrudgingly accepts a red flower from an elephant which throws him off. But in the end he makes it work. I love the graphic look of the art. 

By Jackie Huang,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Picky Panda (With Fun Flaps to Lift) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What is this book about?

Celebrate the joys of fresh perspectives and unexpected beauty in this touching lift-the-flap picture book from paper engineer Jackie HuangPersnickety Mr. Panda likes his world to be just so. His decisions are always easy: yes or no; good or bad; right or wrong; black or white . . . until one day when the gift of a red flower changes everything. Touching, clever, and with a great message about remaining flexible and open to the beauty in the world, this lift-the-flap picture book is an innovative and heartwarming story sure to resonate with readers. Author-illustrator Jackie Huang brings her utterly…


Book cover of Everyone Is Yawning

Natasha Wing Author Of Squeak-a-boo!

From my list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an animal advocate and part-time pet sitter, I wanted to instill the love of animals to babies with a fun board book. I’ve always enjoyed the surprise factor of lift-the-flaps so I was thrilled when Squeak-a-boo! was published. These types of books make for wonderful interactive bonding moments between reader and baby. I hope you enjoy the books on this list, not only for their fun concepts and text, but also for their colorful illustrations. 

Natasha's book list on cute & cuddly animal lift-the-flap for kids

Natasha Wing Why did Natasha love this book?

Yawns are contagious! So is this book.

Turn bedtime into a fun game by having your child yawn at every flap lift and see how sleepy they get. The animals are simple and bold with expression. Kids lift the flap of the animal’s mouth and get to see inside the mouth.

I can see parents using this book to point out how animals have different types of teeth. I like how the flaps reveal not just an answer, but that it prompts an action by the child to yawn along as well.

By Anita Bijsterbosch (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Everyone Is Yawning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What is this book about?

It's time for bed! The kitten yawns. Look. I think it is tired. All the little animals yawn. And the little kid? Does the little kid yawn too? You'll find out as you lift-the-flaps in this surprising book. A sleepytime book filled with tired animals and friendly flaps from the author-illustrator of the Oppenheim Gold Award winner Whose Hat is That?


Book cover of How to Be an Elephant

Patricia Newman Author Of Eavesdropping on Elephants: How Listening Helps Conservation

From my list on elephants for people who love them.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a Sibert Honor author and write books for kids and teens about nature. Ever since I saw an elephant skull on the savanna in Kenya, I’ve been fascinated by elephants. When my daughter was an undergrad, she worked with Katy Payne and the Elephant Listening Project, and I knew I had to write about ELP’s astounding work—one of the only groups working with forest elephants. I hope you enjoy the QR codes in Eavesdropping on Elephants. Katy and her colleagues were very generous with their work. The more I write the more I discover our connections to our natural world that humble me and fill me with gratitude. 

Patricia's book list on elephants for people who love them

Patricia Newman Why did Patricia love this book?

Katherine Roy’s beautifully illustrated picture book includes lots of fun information for elephant lovers. We follow an infant elephant as he learns how to survive on the plains, including his place in the family, how to walk and use his trunk, how to communicate with the herd, and how to stay cool in the scorching sun. A unique portrait of an elephant’s life.

By Katherine Roy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Be an Elephant as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 7, 8, 9, and 10.

What is this book about?

Africa is not an easy place to live, even for the enormous elephants that call it home. Foraging for food and water and fighting off predators are only a few of the many skills that these giants must acquire as part of the long learning process that begins immediately after birth. Thankfully, they have a large familial network in place to teach them how to wash and drink and whiffle and roar - everything they need to know about how to be an elephant. Award-winning author-illustrator Katherine Roy's How to Be an Elephant delves into the intricate family dynamics at…


Book cover of The Hand on My Scalpel: Humorous & Heartbreaking Stories from a Jungle Operating Room

Joan Deneve Author Of Saving Eric

From my list on the wonders of life and mission work in Africa.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for Africa came from my college days at Tennessee Temple University. Each year, the university would sponsor a missionary conference, and I always found myself drawn to the African exhibits. I am particularly passionate about missionary work in Africa and the challenges that it presents. Africa is a vast and splendid place with cultures as diverse as the climates in which they live. My research has only deepened my great love for this continent and the precious people who live there.

Joan's book list on the wonders of life and mission work in Africa

Joan Deneve Why did Joan love this book?

The Hand on my Scalpel was interesting and amusing to read. Dr. Thompson gave a first-hand account of his work in Africa as a surgeon. He is an excellent writer who was able to relate his life and challenges in Africa with vivid clarity and descriptions. I was able to envision each scene as if I were there. 

By David C. Thompson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Hand on My Scalpel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is not just a book about surgery. It is not even just about surgery in a remote jungle station.

It is about God and His unpredictable working in the life and ministry of a missionary kid from Cambodia who ends up as a medical doctor at an isolated hospital in Gabon, West Africa.

You will laugh when a "simple" outhouse building project turns into a comedy of errors. You will cry when a pregnant, retarded and epileptic girl arrives at the hospital and gives birth to "Grace." But most of all, you will come to understand that there is…


Book cover of Fishing in Africa: A Guide to War and Corruption

Iain Parke Author Of The Liquidator

From my list on African set political thrillers.

Why am I passionate about this?

Looking for an adventure in the mid-90s I found myself in East Africa helping wind up a failed African bank, locked out of a t-shirt manufacturing plant, chasing down missing bulldozers (which turned up creating Rwandan refugee camps), taking over a toilet paper manufacturer which couldn’t manage to perforate the paper, and running a match factory on the slopes of Kilimanjaro before selling it to a Nigerian chief who turned up in his private jet. Meanwhile feeling like an alien who really didn’t understand what was really going on around me, and uncomfortable with much of the hard-drinking and arrogant expat culture, drove me to start to write as a way of making sense of what I was seeing and feeling.    

Iain's book list on African set political thrillers

Iain Parke Why did Iain love this book?

A revealing portrait of 80s/90s Africa from a journalist who had covered many of the continent’s trouble spots for major British newspapers. Through his journeys you get to meet a wide range of players from fighters in the bush to aid executives and politicians in executive suites. A fascinating mix of travel writing and political analysis (and yes with some fishing thrown in). 

By Andrew Buckoke,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fishing in Africa as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For ten years Andrew Buckoke wrote articles about Africa for many of the major newspapers including "The Guardian", "The Times" and "The Observer". He brings his experience and knowledge of the African continent to bear in a book which attempts to open up this often romanticized and little understood land to the general reader. "Fishing in Africa" concentrates interest on the people of the continent rather than the animals, while looking at the ways in which these peoples are governed. The author follows the antics of governments, rebels, aid agencies and fellow journalists and while persuing his interest in fishing,…


Book cover of Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War

Noel Keough Author Of Sustainability Matters: Prospects for a Just Transition in Calgary, Canada’s Petro-City

From my list on myth demonstrating why sustainability matters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Injustice has always motivated my research and activism. I have always been fascinated by nature and by the complexity of cities. For 25 years I have pursued these passions through the lens of sustainability. In 1996, I co-founded the not-for-profit Sustainable Calgary Society. My extensive work and travel in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, have given me a healthy skepticism of the West’s dominant cultural myths of superiority and benevolence and a keen awareness of the injustice of the global economic order. My book selections shed light on these myths and suggest alternative stories of where we come from, who we are, and who we might become. 

Noel's book list on myth demonstrating why sustainability matters

Noel Keough Why did Noel love this book?

In these times of Black Lives Matter, emboldened white-supremicists, and with European dominance descendant, Born into Blackness is a revelatory and blunt dose of historical reality. I was not fully aware of the centrality of the slave economy in Europe’s rise to global dominance. Most importantly, I was ignorant of the level of cultural, political, and economic sophistication of the African nations when the Portuguese first explored the west coast of Africa. I had some understanding of the Haitian revolution and its manifestation of the enlightenment ideals, but this book opened my eyes to the historical ripples of the revolution: the Louisiana purchase, ceding much of present-day Southern US from Napoleon’s France; the sale and forced-march of thousands of slaves into the cotton-growing south, fueling an economic take-off that made the US an imperial power.

By Howard W. French,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Born in Blackness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In a sweeping narrative that traverses 600 years, one that eloquently weaves precise historical detail with poignant personal reportage, Pulitzer Prize finalist Howard W. French retells the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in America and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanising engagement with the "darkest" continent.

Born in Blackness dramatically retrieves the lives of major African historical figures whose stories have been repeatedly etiolated and erased over centuries, from unimaginably rich medieval African emperors who traded with Asia; to Kongo sovereigns who…


Book cover of Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa

Nick Wood Author Of Water Must Fall

From my list on African climate speculative fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up in Zambia and then South Africa, I was immersed in the natural landscapes and the fantastic variety of African plants and wildlife. However, I increasingly became aware of many other human injustices happening around me—e.g., human to human: the extreme racism of white supremacy (apartheid). Additionally, human to other animals: the ivory and wildlife ‘trade,’ resulting in what has been called The Sixth Extinction (of plants and other animals.) Alongside this destruction of life is the critical climate crisis and the financial appropriation of vital resources for profit—none more vital than water, for water is life. These books emphasise the ethical sanctity of all living beings!

Nick's book list on African climate speculative fiction

Nick Wood Why did Nick love this book?

This is a wonderful and diverse cross-section of stories from a variety of African countries representing a thematic focus on a world facing Disruption, whether via climate change, global pandemics, or a plethora of crises, that challenges us all with the necessity to find ways to join with each other if we are to survive. Stand-out stories for me were Zambian author Mbozi Haimbe's "Shelter" (shortlisted for a NOMMO Award this year—best in African Speculative Fiction 2022) and Kenyan Idza Luhumyo’s "Five Years Next Sunday," winner of the 2022 Caine Prize for African Writing. I loved the vibrancy and range of these stories, all bristling with energy and providing novel ways of seeing and learning to confront our global challenges.  

By Rachel Zadok (editor), Karina M. Szczurek (editor), Jason Mykl Snyman (editor)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Disruption as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Including 2022 Caine Prize winning story "Five Years Next Sunday" by Idza Luhumyo and the 2022 Nommo Award shortlisted story "Shelter" by Mzobi Haimbe


This genre-spanning anthology explores the many ways that we grow, adapt, and survive in the face of our ever-changing global realities. These evocative, often prescient, stories showcase new and emerging writers from across Africa to investigate many of the pressing issues of our time: climate change, pandemics, social upheaval, surveillance, and more.


In Disruption, authors from across Africa use their stories to explore the concept of change-environmental, political, and physical-and the power or impotence of the…


Book cover of Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora

Joan Steinau Lester Author Of Loving before Loving: A Marriage in Black and White

From my list on biracial marriage/families with fascinating angles.

Why am I passionate about this?

Sixty-one years ago I, a young white woman, married a Black man and together we had two children. Raising them (and then watching my biracial children grow to maturity) started my career, professionally and personally, as an anti-racism activist and scholar. They also caused me to question “race”: how did this myth come to be accepted as reality? How could people who were segregated as Negro, as my children were called in the 1960s, have come out of my body, called “white”? As a writer and avid reader, I am fascinated by every aspect of “racial identity.” 

Joan's book list on biracial marriage/families with fascinating angles

Joan Steinau Lester Why did Joan love this book?

A memoir by a young biracial woman who travels to Israel, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Ghana, and the U.S. South, searching for her own identity. 

The pleasure in the memoir comes from her journey. She is a good storyteller and takes us inside her often uncomfortable encounters with folks she has romanticized as being the “real” Black folks. Raboteau discovers, after searching for ten years all over the world, that rather like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, her true home lies within. 

One of the things I loved about the book was her well-told conversations and visits with people in countries I knew little about. The book was the winner of American Book Award.

By Emily Raboteau,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Searching for Zion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A decade in the making, Emily Raboteau’s Searching for Zion takes readers around the world on an unexpected adventure of faith. Both one woman’s quest for a place to call “home” and an investigation into a people’s search for the Promised Land, this landmark work of creative nonfiction is a trenchant inquiry into contemporary and historical ethnic displacement.
At the age of twenty-three, award-winning writer Emily Raboteau traveled to Israel to visit her childhood best friend. While her friend appeared to have found a place to belong, Raboteau could not yet say the same for herself. As a biracial woman…


Book cover of Lois Looks for Bob at the Museum
Book cover of Animal Families: Snow
Book cover of Picky Panda (With Fun Flaps to Lift)

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