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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780395861370
ISBN number: 0395861373
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 32
Printing Date: October 30, 1997
Publishing house: Houghton Mifflin
Age index: Ages 9-12
Sale Popularity Level: 62127
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
A zookeeper recounts the story of John, Tonky, and Wanly, three performing elephants at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, whose turn it is to die, and of their keepers, who weep and pray that World War II will end so their beloved elephants might be saved.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I use "Faithful Elephants" with my middle school Halocaust unit. My students love to see a different perspective of WWII, and I cry every time I read it. It is probably not suitable for elementary but quite poignant for secondary school students.
Rated by buyers 
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I read this after reading Roland Smith's Elephant Run, an excellent childrens/young adult book involving elephants in World War II. While that book was even-handed, I found this book to be just plain gut wrenching for adults and even worse for children who often have such a special bond with animals. This bond may be, as my children's lit professor suggested, due to the vulnerability animals and children feel at the hands of bigger and stronger (in most cases) adults. If that idea is true, then the premise of this book is even worse.
Although the author attempts a tenderness in the writing style and the illustrations are well done, the deaths of the elephants seem so cruel and pointless even in war, a war I might add, where the Japanese were aggresors as often as victims. I'm probably more of a pacifist than most (two years in the Peace Corpse should count for something!), but I think there are a lot more effective books to be used to promote peace. There are also a lot more effective books to promote courage and hope against all odds.
Rated by buyers 
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I tried to put zero stars, but the computer wouldn't let me. I hate this book. Never in my life have I read anything this disturbing. The fact that this book exists, perterbs me greatly and I wonder what possible purpose these authors could have had in writing it. I am a teacher, and I would NEVER read this to my class. Again, I hate this book.
Rated by buyers -
I just attended a Peace Prize Forum in Sioux Falls, SD, and this book was part of a curriculum for teaching children about peace and war. I think it is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.
This is a tender book about how war affects life, in a way accessible for children, and equally vivid and profound for adults.
The illustrations are also beautiful.
Rated by buyers -
This is a response to Tamara Lakeman's review:
It's a shame that there are people who feel that it is necessary to censor literature which brings awareness to all aspects of war, including death, compassion, and despair. Yes the elephants died as a result of being starved to death. However, the trainers were put in a position of having to carry out an order that forever scared them thus leading them to cry out in despair of what the war had done to them, and their beloved animals.
Would the reviewer feel the same if the story was about three American soldiers who were forced to let their Japanese friends starve to death in a cell because of being on opposing sides?
Oh, let's just sweep everything about death and dying under the rug. Let's cover our children's ears so that they may be ignorant and pretend that nothing bad ever happens including the millions of animals that are euthanized yearly because of irresponsible humans!
The story calls for awareness. It's making people aware of the terrible things that happen in our world. Every once in a while we all need a little wake up call. Maybe we can help in preventing these things from happening again in the future instead of retaining an egocentric, self centered, it's all about me lifestyle.
This reviewer forgets to mention that every August 15th, "Faithful Elephants" is read over the radio in Japan in hopes of bringing awareness of the effects of war. Does the reviewer know that zoos in Iraq were abandoned during this war? Many of those animals starved to death as well. Remember... History repeats itself.
I agree that reading the book as a bedtime story would be obviously inappropriate (as with any war story), however I do feel it will bring out the compassionate side of anyone who has a heart not just reserved for his or her own corner of the world.
The only reason why I will not read this book to my students in the classroom is that I would end up crying: I will however read it to my own children. Maybe one day I will go to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo Japan and a paper crane on the three elephants' memorial.
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