Elephant Run

by Roland Smith

Overview

In this action-packed WWII-era historical fiction novel, bestselling author Roland Smith introduces an oft-ignored aspect of the conflict with stunning detail. 

The year is 1941, and bombs are being dropped from the night sky, blanketing the city of London. When fourteen-year-old Nick Freestone’s apartment is demolished, his mother decides the situation in England has grown too unstable. Nick will be safer, his mother hopes, living with his father in Burma on the family’s teak plantation. 

Nick arrives at the plantation eager to learn about the timber elephants raised and trained there, and also to spend time with his father. But before he can settle in, trouble erupts in the remote Burmese village. Japanese soldiers invade, and Nick’s father is taken prisoner. Nick is stranded, forced to work as a servant to the new rulers. As life in the village grows more dangerous for Nick and his friend Mya, they plan their daring escape, determined to rescue their families. But to succeed, they will have to brave not only the threat of enemy soldiers, but the dangers of their wilderness journey. 

In this thrilling adventure through the jungles of Burma, Roland Smith explores the far-reaching effects of World War II, while introducing readers to the fascinating world of timber elephants and their mahouts. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423104018
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	06/30/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	94,141
Product dimensions:	4.70(w) x 7.58(h) x 0.88(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Roland Smith is a former Zoo Curator and Research Biologist, and a New York Times bestselling author. He has published more than twenty novels for children and young adults, including Peak, Zach’s Lie, and Cryptid Hunters. He and his wife, Marie, who is also an author, live on a small farm near Portland, Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

The thrilling adventure tale Smith is known for, strong on plot and setting…that is also a family story.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Gr 5-7
As German bombs fall on London, 14-year-old Nick is sent to Burma to live with his British father on their teak plantation. Unforeseen in this plan is the impending invasion that puts them, along with the locals, under Japanese rule. Nick is forced to work on the plantation for the brutal commanders and his father is placed in a labor camp. The boy's predicament escalates as his trust in the Burmese employees who once worked for his father is challenged by their newfound loyalty to the Japanese. Escape through the jungle, with the help of a well-respected monk and great-grandfather to the boy's new friend Mya, is the only way out. This novel is filled with intrigue, danger, surprising plot twists, and suspense. It's a well-developed historical adventure with villains and heroes that describes aspects of British colonization, forced occupation, and World War II.
—Rita SoltanCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

It's out of the frying pan and into the fire for 14-year-old Nick Freestone, as he is sent out of London during the Blitz only to arrive at his father's teak plantation in Burma right before the Japanese invade. When his father is taken prisoner and hauled off to a prisoner-of-war camp and the plantation is taken over by the Japanese, Nick eventually escapes and reunites with his father with the help of an ancient Buddhist monk, a beautiful, smart girl named Mya, a Burmese Robin Hood, a rampaging bull elephant and various people resisting the Japanese occupation. It's the thrilling adventure tale Smith is known for, strong on plot and setting, and though the beginning is an uneasy mix of story and information, the tale soon rolls. Adult readers will be reminded of The Bridge on the River Kwai, as the threats of the steamy jungle and the brutality of enemy soldiers are twin complications in a country at war. An adventure tale that is also a family story-as is Smith's other 2007 title, Peak. (Fiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews