Faithful Elephants : A True Story of Animals, People, and War

Rating:
Summary: A moving true story...
Review: The Faithful Elephants is one of the most heart-wrenching stories I have ever read. I use this book to introduce another book -- Hiroshima -- to the high school sophomores that I teach. Adolescents sometimes have difficulty displaying emotion when it comes to others, but that difficulty is gone when animals enter into the picture. Those kids who don't flinch at the thought of the suffering endured by other humans can scarcely hold back tears when it comes to innocent animals. The illustrations have stuck in my mind since I first read it. If you're going to be reading it to others -- read it to yourself first -- it's guaranteed to bring out tears in the least demonstrative of all of us! I highly recommend this book to everyone -- but it may bring out a little too much sorrow in the very young.

Rating:
Summary: Sad but true
Review: This story about zoo animals caught in the horrors of war is one of the saddest stories I've ever read. You can teach a class a lot about war, animals, and suffering with this book alone. You can actually feel their pain as you read. This is a classic piece of history that anyone with a heart should read.

Rating:
Summary: The Elephants Story Shoudl Be Read With A Critical Eye
Review: This story is excellent but it is propoganda. The story is laden with historical innacuracies and furthermore does not contain logic. It was used by the Japanese as a form of propoganda and was read yearly to children there. This story is great to illustrate how we can be swept away emotionally into believing things. The elephants were not killed because of the war. As a matter of fact bombs weren't coming down day and nigth at all. Had fear been the real case they could have shot the elephants with the Zoo's pistol. The truth of the matter is that these elephants were killed because they were beloved, and the government knew the people woudl rally behing their cause, thinking it was the Americans fault their beloved elephants were being killed. The elephants in that sense were killed in the name of governmental manipulation and propoganda. Enjoy

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for older readers, not younger.
Review: When we think about war, we often think of the perpetrators and the victims. Faithful Elephants depicts another side of war - the innocent animals. This book is often, and inappropriately, placed in the children's section in libraries. I would recommend this story for children of middle school age and older.