Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya

 

Tsuchiya, Y. C. (1988). Faithful elephants. Boston

A zookeeper at the Ueno Zoo told a story of the elephant memorial at the zoo. While Japan was at war bombs were dropped on Tokyo daily. A fear arose that if one of the bombs hit the zoo the animals would get away therefore dangerous animals would be running wild through the city. The workers at the zoo were commanded by the Army to put all the animals to death. The elephant trainers loved the elephants very much and didn't want to put them to death. They tried to poison one elephant, give it medicine through a syringe but his skin was too thick. Finally all three elephants were starved to death. Two of the elephants held on as long as they could but died trying to convince the zookeepers to give them food. 

The illustrations in this picture book are blurry or out of focus but I think it adds to the fact that this is a sad story and helps people reading the book to realize that it was not a happy time and the people who worked at the zoo didn't like the actions they took. 

This book is on the forth grade reading level but the content of the story might be more suited for older students. The younger students may not understand why the zoo keepers were required to kill all the animals. However, many students might want to read this book because they love the zoo and they love to see elephants.

 An anticipation guide could be used with this book. A very good lesson on how to use it as an anticipation guide can be found at this site. http://www.ride.ri.gov/instruction/curriculum/rhodeisland/RhodeIslandProject/%28rnukco454nhhejnqts3vaizm%29/PDF/R5-UAAG.pdf

Questions to think about during and after reading Faithful Elephants. 

 - How does being faithful effect you?

- How does it feel for someone to have an animal be as faithful to a person as these elephants were to these zookeepers? 

- Could you ever be faithful to something that might hurt you or even kill you? How would you feel?

- While reading this book can you imagine how to zookeeper felt to have to starve the elephants? How would you feel if you were in their position?