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An Elephant In The Garden (2010)

by Michael Morpurgo(Favorite Author)

4.08 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0312593694 (ISBN13: 9780312593698)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Feiwel & Friends

review 1: Inspired by two true events described the afterword, this novel is narrated by an elderly woman (Lizzie) in a nursing home telling the story of her youth in Dresden Germany during World War II. Her mother was a zookeeper, who brought a young elephant home nightly to their private garden out of fear for the mammal's safety. When the bombing begins on a snowy winter night, Lizzie flees with her mother, younger brother, and Marlene, the elephant. They flee to the country, only to find a Canadian navigator on their family's farm. A seminal event unites these enemies, and together they flee the invading Russians. Heartwarming story of courage, friendships, love, and war. 4.5 stars.
review 2: I think the target audience for this book is ages 12 and under, and th... moreat might have been the reason why I was so bored throughout. But I think part of it was also the writing as well as the plot. The story itself is told by an elderly German woman, so I the author tried to emanate her accent and speech in the telling. However, this often made the writing repetitive and very passive. The whole account feels more like a summary of events rather than the events itself. He was clearly telling us a story instead of showing us a story. The characters were flat and remained so throughout the book. Their motives for doing the things they did were flimsy, at best. The events and resolution ended up being rather convenient for the plot. All in all, I would definitely not recommend this book to anyone, target audience or not. I think a kid would be as equally bored by the tedious summarized style of writing as I was. less

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