What can I say? - Jolly good fun! I wish I'd come across Gillian Avery's books as a child, but I'm certainly enjoying them as an adult!

a. Historical Fiction

b. 189 pgs

c. The Elephant War is about a girl named Harriet Jessop who lives in Oxford, England. She has an aunt named Lousia Jessop is a big animal rights activist. Harriet’s aunt finds out that an elephant from the zoo is being sold to P. T. Barnum who will put it in his circus. Jumbo, the elephant, is the only elephant at the zoo and Aunt Jessop is furious that he is being taken to America. Aunt Jessop calls America the land where they keep slaves and says that England should not send an elephant there. She starts making leaflets and Harriet, who doesn’t want Jumbo to go either, helps her spread leaflets around Oxford. Soon all the girls in her school are part of the Save Jumbo march. Along the way she meets three boys who play a big part in her adventure to save Jumbo. Toward the end Harriet realizes that the three boys aren’t so bad after all and she just might make friends in Oxford.

d.tI liked this book because it told about how ordinary people can get together and try to stop something from happening. In the book Aunt Jessop pushes Harriet to spread leaflets and tell the girls at her school about Jumbo and what her Aunt is doing to stop it. At first Harriet does it wholeheartedly and whenever she can, but then she starts to have second doubts. She wonders if she should be marching and doing everything she can to help stop Jumbo from going to America. The author does a good job of describing Harriet’s feelings about Jumbo and protesting. Gillian Avery describes the marching and leaflets and everyone’s feelings very well.

Loved them all as a whippersnapper. Decent hardbacks with fabulous illustrations.

I remember not really liking this book as a kid, but the opening scene of A.S. Byatt's "The Children's Book" reminded me of the opening scene of this book, so I picked it back up. And I still don't like it. The characters lack any depth or realistic mannerisms, as well as being historically anachronistic. The main character's reactions are so wildly our of proportion to any events that it occurred to me at one point that she might be mentally ill. The ending was pat and unconvincing.

So... probably not one I'll be re-reading.

Gillian Avery is a clever, funny writer, who sets her children's novels in Victorian Oxford. It's a very funny and quirky book; but I felt a bit sorry for Jumbo. And the tadpoles!