An Elephant in the Garden: Inspired by a True Story

I bought this book because I love both the city of Dresden and the book Water for Elephants. Not much of Dresden is in the setting, and the plot is not as complex as Water for Elephants. Still, the book is an excellent read-aloud for upper elementary students because of the elephant's appealing character and the suspense of the family's wartime journey to Heidelberg. I also noticed a connection to the von Stauffenberg plot to assassinate Hitler. The Countess's castle is in about the right place on the journey, but it is a parallel rather than a reference because Von Stauffenberg's wife was arrested after her husband was executed. The compass is an important symbol in the book, and there is a lot of opportunity for students to debate ethical choices.

This book is perfectly wonderful! My 13 year-old son and I just got done reading it. We would have read it in one sitting, if we could have. It covers such good ground, on so many topics, in so many ways. The story is being told by an elderly woman and the author is very authentic with presenting her physical and mental limitations and her dislike for living in a nursing home. The content is written in such a way that you really do feel that you have become the family in Germany, fleeing danger for the unknown. Warning: early on in the book, the word "bastards" is used by a character and near the end, a soldier yells, "What the hell is this?" If you don't want your child to read this, you could read it aloud and skip that. You can read it aloud, if you aren't crying too hard! Enjoy this good literature together; you will enjoy it as much as your child will!

I enjoyed reading this, but I wouldn't hold it up as an example of fantastic writing. The story was interesting, albeit predictable. The characters were a little two dimensional, but appealing. I loved the elephant. I would happily recommend this book to middle-grade readers, but I wouldn't put it on my list of "must reads".

(Note: I received a free advance reading copy of this book from the publisher at an American Library Association Annual Conference. I was not required to write a positive review. Thank you, Feiwel and Friends!)

This is an exceptional story. I enjoyed it thoroughly. You don't get to see what life was like behind enemy lines very often. The regular people, what they had to endure, not just the hero's. It was very good, and to know it was a true story makes it all the better. I highly recomend it.

This just one of those books that makes you feel good, and shows the power of the human spirit and the unbreakable bond that be forges between humans and animals. I wonderful read for all ages. Also it is a true story.

Something worth reading with a unique storyline.

Michael Morpurgo OBE MBE has written a tale about animals and children. In this story, Karl gets to visit his mother's workplace, a nursing home in England. There he meets Lizzie better known as Elizabeth. She wants to tell him a story about an elephant in the garden.

Well, Elizabeth or Lizzie tells her story about her life before World War II in Dresden, Germany and during the bombing and afterwards. She had a younger brother named Karli and lived with both her parents in Dresden.

Elizabeth is a German girl during the war but her family didn't believe in war even though her father was sent off to war. Her mother remained at home where she worked at the Dresden Zoo where she met Marlene (named after German singer/actress Marlene Dietrich). When the bombing of Dresden occurs, Elizabeth, her mother, brother, and an Elephant named Marlene must escape.

This novel is a great read for children and adults as well. I found it quite interesting and wanted to compare this book to the War Horse. If you want to read another Morpurgo novel, this book would be next on the list. It's less than 200 pages and is an easy read.

Long before, I had a stereotype about all the Germans at the WW2 being the very source of evil and injustice. I did think of the civilians with no weapon of any sort, but I usually had a "they are the troublemaker" to Germany considering the WW2. However, as I got older and learned more and more, I knew that it not entirely Germany's fault, or al lest not all the citizen's. After I finished "An Elephant in the Garden", I was well aware of the suffering innocents took in the horrible war.
First of all, I did not witness the war: I was born quite after it. Second, I was grown in environment of not-German's-team-in-WW2, so I was thought in the perspective of the person who suffered from the Germany's side. This book really reminded me again of how the environment could totally disturb a person from the truth, and condition their feelings toward such.
The actual story of the book is told by an old lady whom the first viewing character calls "Lizzie". She tells the first viewing character and her son the story of her WW2, and here and there the book zooms in and out of the story of Lizzie and the real world where Lizzie is actually narrating the story.
THE real story in this book is about Lizzie's younger days of teen life, when the WW2 started (Lizzie was Elizabeth then). She is a German, about 16 years old, with a good family. However, the war erupts and after her father is sent into the battle, things begin to reshape. As more and more cities of Germany is bombed, her mother's workplace, the zoo in Dresden, gave orders to prepare to shoot all the animals for the worries of dangerous carnivores escaping. Despite the risk, her mother convinces the director to let her have one of the lonely orphan elephant named Marlene, whom she loves so much. As Dresden is bombed, they flee to their uncle& aunt's farmhouse to stay there as long as possible, and to also find a safe place. On there, they meet a Canadian navigator RAF named Peter Kamm and at first, they did not like him, but after a while and him saving Elizabeth's younger brother Karli from his death. Afterwards, they altogether travel to the American army and take refugee, and later begin new life in Canada....
If you read this book, and I HIGHLY recommend to, read it again, and I highly recommend to do it as well, to get all the emotions the author has magically locked into the words. You will love this book.

Great book!

A very well told story. I love it.