Elephant Run

When purchasing an item I always search for great quality, great reviews, without putting a dent in my wallet. Item arrived promptly with Prime. I read this book to my son eight years ago, and to this day it is our favorite book. It is just such an amazing story, that its a book we will never forget. This is our third copy. The only thing I was disappointed about, is that the cover I received is not the cover pictured, and that was the original cover of the book I had read my son. Would have been nice if the seller would have advertised the product as having a different cover art. Especially for those that are buying it for sentimental reasons. However, the story is superb and I would highly recommend.

Elephant Run was an exceptionally good book to read. Some parts were emotional, however others were confusing, because the dialogue didn’t contain enough detail about the cultural traditions. This story gives details of a Burmese person’s life, including the Mahouts, and other engaging Burmese cultural traditions. I enjoyed learning about the characters as they matured, and understanding the multiple perspectives of WWII. As a result of the war, the lines blurred between protagonists and antagonists. Even though this book is confusing, we liked it because it has a great ending, and can teach several lessons.

My 11 yr old daughter had Elephant Run as a summer reading book assignment. I read it first and was very shocked at the amount of violence in it. Dogs getting murdered, people getting murdered, and beaten. There were also a few references to thoughts of rape by one of the characters. The story also didn't flow. It went all over the place and you had to reread frequently to see if they were in the past or present. I do not feel that the author really described things either I could not vividly picture how things looked. While it is historical fiction you really don't learn much about WWII. The other problem that I had with this book is that many of the words were written in Burmese with no explanation of how to pronounce them. I decided to give it a try though and let my daughter read it. I was sorry that I did. She began having nightmares after the scence where the Japanese murder people and kill a dog(this was one of the only parts that was pretty descriptive). She also became frustrated with the fact that she couldn't read/ pronounce the Burmese words.

This is a young adult Novel about WWII and about a boy named Nick Freestone, who at the start of the book in 1941, is living with his mother and her Husband in London. The apartement where they are living is hit one night by bombs and destroyed. His mother, decides the situation in England is too unstable, and sends Nick to live with his father in Burma, hoping he will be safer living on the family's teak plantation. Shortly after arriving, the Japanese invade Burma and the action begins. This writer, writes to any age and I found the story fascinating and adventurous.

My 10-year-old son and I found this novel captivating. Smith has a knack for conveying a sensitive lesson about colonialism (in this case of Burma by the British) through a suspenseful plot. As a female reader, I wish the character Maya had been a bit more developed, but the protagonist, Nick, is a wonderfully adventurous and self-critical kid, and you learn along with him about the wisdom of indigenous Burmese and their profound relationships with elephants.

Thanks

I am using this with our very high 4th grade students and they are loving the book. I found a resource online that is helping them analyze the characters/setting/themes/etc. and learn about foreshadowing and flashback. They are enjoying the story because it isn't just another WWII story about the Nazis. Instead, it is WWII when Japan invated Burma.

I bought this for a school assignment for my grandchild who is not that excited about reading. Well, she couldn't put it down. I spoke to the teacher and she said all the kids are really enjoying it. It's a great book for a tween boy or girl.

This is a wonderful story for people from aged 9 to 100. Didn't think I'd like it and enjoyed it so much. It was recommended to me by a 12 year old. Read it to my class at school and they couldn't wait for us to continue the story the next day.