Faithful Elephants

Faithful Elephants

Faithful Elephants

by Yukio Tsuchiya

translated by Tomoko Tsuchiya Dykes

illustrated by Ted Lewin

Faithful Elephants is a fictional retelling of what happened at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo during World War II. 

Today the Ueno Zoo is a wonderful zoo and it was a wonderful place before World War II as well.  But during World War II is was a very sad place.  As the Allied Forces bombed Tokyo more and more, the Japanese Armed Forces ordered that all large animals, that could be dangerous if they escaped, be killed. 

Faithful Elephants retells how difficult it was for the three elephants' caretakers to follow through with the army's orders.

This story is extremely sad and demonstrates some of the lesser known consequences of war.  

Students would find this story to be quite fascinating and I can see wonderful discussions about right and wrong happening during and after reading. 

After reading and discussing the story, students could be asked to write a summary and their opinion on whether killing the elephants was the correct thing to do.

Published in English: 1988

Genre: Historical Fiction Picture Book

Locations: School Library, and Amazon

Note: This book is considered fiction and non-fiction depending on which library you go to.  The Library of Congress considers it to be fiction.