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

This book is based on true story. The animals are sacrificed due to men's evilness. A lesson for all humanity.

An important reading experience for the youngest of school age readers to the oldest. Reveals the horrorof war with the power and love of peace. A great read for the whole family together to befollowed by serious discussion by all. Yetta Goodman

Very cruel things happen in times of war, but its enough just to know they happen, we don’t need to have the ugly details spelled out for us! This book should be banned from use with kids! It affected my psychic terribly, and I am an adult. It’s a true story. In a nutshell..Japan is in the midst of war and a decision is made at a zoo to kill all the animals to prevent a possible bomb attack that would destroy the zoo and put these dangerous scared animals freely wandering the streets of the city and possibly causing a dangerous scenario. All the animals are poisoned through their food, but the elephants refuse to eat the poisoned food. The animal keepers try to inject the poison into the the three elephants, but their thick skin makes this impossible. The last resort is to starve them. The author then goes on to show the slow awful, cruel torture that the elephants endured and how the 3 pets begged their keepers for mercy! The story disturbed me terribly and literally gave me nightmares. All I could think about after reading this story was NO NO NO, THIS IS NOT FOR CHILDREN! I put the book in the garbage! There’s a limit to where we can go telling children about the cruel realities of life. This book crossed that line; in my mind it’s downright sadistic to describe the things told here.

I have had a love relationship with elephants from the age of 3 years of age. I read everything I can find about them and this book, while obviously geared to a younger group will find it's place among my other books. It went straight to my heart and made me cry just thinking about all the horrible things that have happened and continue to happen to these majestic creatures. They are to be treasured and we should continue to learn from them for they have many lesson yet to teach us. I loved and cried with this story and knowing that it actually happened made it even more poignant.

Truly a great book about the animals who survive the war. Challenging to read aloud but that is a good thing. Books that can bring you to tears usually have the most impact on a person. Heard this book in collage and wanted it immediately. The elephants of the zoo in Japan do everything they can to get the zoo keeper to feed them, unfortunately during the war there just aren't the resources to care for them. Sad ending and story but amazing book none the less. Great for talking about war from different perspectives.

I have wanted this book for 6 years since I read it for my middle school students. It took me three times to read it aloud at home to make sure I won't cry in class - it is truly heartbreaking. The illustrations are more than magnificent, they are in tune with the content. It may be not a perfect fit as a bed time story for an impressionable girl, as a parent I will keep it away from my 5 y.o. for a while. This is one of those stories you don't forget.

I love this story. But be forewarned that it is very sad and deals with the unintended consequences of war. I use it in my 5th grade classroom and probably wouldn't for a younger grade. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is heartbreaking.

This is one of my favorite books to read to students when we are studying Europe and WWII. Not only does it engage their attention throughout the book, but it gives them a different perspective on WWII-from the Japanese citizen point of view. Love this book!!!

This is an amazing story but quite sad. It is a must read around Remembrance Day!

Beautiful story. Makes you stop and think.

Beautiful

子供の現地の学校の先生に寄付しました。戦争の話なのでどうかな？と押し付けがましいかと心配しましたが全校生の前で校長が戦争記念日の日に朗読をしてくれたようです。イラストも原本のものよりこちらのほうが綺麗でした。