An Elephant in the Garden

A frail and elderly Lizzie tells the story of her youth in Dresden Germany during World War II. Her father was fighting on the Russian front. Her mother was a zookeeper and fearing for the safety of the young elephant, she brought the animal home each night to their private garden. But the war is taking a toll on everyone and when the bombing begins on a snowy February night the family must flee the burning city. How can they possibly evade enemy troops with an elephant in tow?

What a wonderful and heart-warming story! Inspired by true events, Morpurgo has crafted a tale of courage, perseverance, and kindness in the face of horrific deprivation. The author doesn’t dwell on the horrors of war, but he doesn’t skip them either. He shows show more that while nations may be enemies at war, individual people can (and do) disagree with their leaders. Morpurgo also takes the opportunity to show people doing what they believe is best and morally right despite the difficulty and even personal danger in doing so.

I had previously read War Horse by the same author, and did not warm to it. So I was a little hesitant to read this one, but I’m glad I did, because I loved this book. I think the difference, for me, was the narrator. The earlier book was told from the animal’s point of view and I found that awkward. In contrast, I was easily able to connect with Lizzie. I’m sorry there are no young children in my life because I kept wanting to read it aloud; I could easily imagine a teacher capturing the attention of a class with this story.

Update June 2024: I re-read this for a challenge and am so glad I revisited it! There are two young people in my life now, girls I met through my library’s summer pen-pal program and I can hardly wait to talk to them about this book! show less

An Elephant in the Garden is another wonderful war story based on real life events, as only Morpurgo can tell them. An 80-something year old woman in an old folks home recalls her girlhood days living in Dresden, Germany during WWII, when her mother brought back an elephant from the zoo she was working at to keep in their garden just before the allied forces bombed the city to smithereens. Through a series of circumstances, the elephant who had run off to charge at a barking dog ended up rescuing the girl and her mother and brother from the bombing, and accompanied them on a long march to safety (their father was meanwhile fighting on the Russian front). The elephant was called Marlena, after Marlena Dietrich, and something tells me show more I'll never forget this story or Marlena, in part because I'm crazy about animals in general and elephants in particular, in part because I cherish stories about how essential to life animals are, and in part because it's so rare to hear stories about the war from the point of view of the Germans. For all these reasons, I've just now decided to upgrade my original rating from 4 to 4.5 stars. I might have rated it the full 5, but was a bit annoyed that they chose an English narrator to tell the tale in an unconvincing German accent on this audio version instead of casting a native German speaker, but that's me being finicky. show less

An enjoyable story focused on the connection of one family with a young elephant. It uses the framework of an elderly nursing home resident recalling her memories of WWII in Dresden, where she lived. This framework was unrealistic given the overworked nature of nursing home staff. No nurse would actually be free to just sit and listen for hours to a patient. But maybe a young reader wouldn't know that, and is there any harm in letting them think that's the way nursing homes work?
The other aspect that caught me off guard was the portrayal of life in Dresden near the end of WWII as people just going about their every day lives. The food scarcity was touched on, but Lizzie still went to school everyday and her mother worked in a zoo. How show more did they manage to provide food for all the animals?
But I still gave 4* because it was well written and showed positive interaction between this German family and an downed Canadian soldier. Also it showed a child being interested in hearing what an elderly person might have to say. show less

This was NOT my cup of tea. Too happy-go-lucky. Karli, the main character's little brother was so sickeningly positive and pleasant, I found myself wishing the elephant would trample him to death. I prefer there to be some degree of darkness and complexity in literature, even children's lit, and this one was just too happy, especially for a WWII novel. Spoiler alert: EVERYONE LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER. EXCEPT HITLER.

Keep in mind I'm not the target audience. But still. Blah.

An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo. Section 10 C. It is February, 1945. The setting is Dresden, Germany. Lizzie’s and Karl’s mother works at the Dresden Zoo and is in charge of a 4 year old. Elephant. Named Marlene after Marlene Dietrich. Her zoo boss has told all the animal keepers: if Dresden is bombed, the animals, especially the dangerous cats and large animals will have to be shot. Mother gets permission to bring Marlene home to stay in the family’s garden at night for safety. One evening, while taking Marlene for a stroll through the park allied bombers drone overhead and unleash terror on Dresden. Marlene runs off and mother and the children run for their lives, away, away from the burning city. Somehow Marlene show more finds them and off they go into the countryside, the same as many other of the city’s inhabitants – all terrified, mostly on foot.
What follows is an odyssey – it is cold winter, no water, no food, thin shoes and coats. And an elephant in tow. Where to go? They decide to head west toward the Americans and British because the Russian guns in the east are getting closer and they have heard the Russian soldiers are especially cruel. Can they walk fast enough to get to the Americans before the Russians catch up with them? Where will they find any human food, much less food for a giant herbivore in winter?
This survival adventure by Morpurgo, author of War Horse (9 D in our library), is loosely based on WW2 news articles. Rather than War Horse’s setting on the English side in WW1, he sets this story on the German side in WW2. The book helps readers see what life was like for Germans as they received “payback” for the London Blitz and destruction of Coventry. No matter which side you were on, World War 2 was horrific.
Books like this are important for middle school readers because they allow readers to experience crisis and catastrophe, but at arm’s length, in safety. They can learn that survival takes faith, luck, ingenuity and dogged determination. This book celebrates the will to survive that kids can take into their hearts and build on in their own lives when illness, deaths in the family, or crises occur. While this is essentially a book for youth, adults will enjoy it too and be able to finish it in an evening. I thought it was a great survival story with a uniquely satisfying ending. show less

Lizzie, an 82 year old resident of a nursing home, is much taken with a 9 year old boy who visits the home with his Mother, a part time nurse there, when she has no place to leave when she works. The boy, Karl, reminds her of her younger brother Karli. She wants to tell him about the elephant that they had in their garden. Finally one day the boy and his mother stay after work to hear the woman’s story. Lizzie was 16 and her brother 9 when the story takes place in Dresden, Germany in 1945. Her mother worked at the zoo and took care of the elephants, raising one from birth. She is 4 years old at the time of the bombing of Dresden and the zoo had a plan to kill all of the large animals to avoid their escape and threat to the people show more during a bombing. Mutti, the mother, brings the elephant home and protects it. Eventually they become part of the refuge march toward the American front, fleeing the Russian advance. This is the story of their trek across Germany. Simple but vital story of a harrowing trip; written for children. show less

I love elephants and historical fiction, and I was intrigued to read something by the author of War Horse, even if I didn't like the movie.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't fantastic. I guess it's been a long time since I've read something so simplistic. Mostly I just lost respect for this book when a 16-year-old girl fell in love at almost-first-sight with a 21-year-old soldier...and later married him. Seriously? Because no 16-year-old in end-of-WWII Germany has anything else on her mind but romance...

Probably my favorite character was the Countess. She seemed to have the most realistic role--no wonder, since she was based on a real person. But she had the most nuanced story, I think. I would like to read a whole book about her!

Anyway, show more this was just a filler while I waited to hand Wolf Hallback and get Bring Up the Bodies. It was the shortest book I had, though I didn't finish it as quickly as I might have finished other books. Ah well. show less