Collaboration Cuties has one of my favorite linky parties because you can never have too many books and everyone has so many great activities to accompany their book recommendations!
This week I'm reading Faithful Elephants-A True Story of Animals, People and War in honor of Veteran's Day. This book will spark such emotion with you and your students!
It's incredible and heart wrenching at the same time!
Faithful Elephants is great to teach war from a different perspective. The book is about the zookeepers at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan during WWII. Fearing that a bomb attack would release all the wild animals into the streets, the zookeepers have to kill all the dangerous animals. All the animals are put to death by poison, however the elephants prove to be tricky because they are too clever to eat poisoned food, and their skin is too tough for a lethal injection. In the end, they have to starve them to death. This story teaches the other repercussions of war that we don't think about and how much is lost by war. It teaches the importance of peace and is a great addition to any WWII unit of study.
The watercolor illustrations are perfect for the tone of this book. Faithful Elephants will have an emotional impact on you and your students!
Warning: I've NEVER read this book without crying!
Because this story evokes such emotion, I will be using my Reaction to the Text template from my Reading With Post Its II pack. I know their emotions/reactions will run from anger to devastation, but they will have to support their feelings with details from the text.
You can grab this FREEBIE here! If you download, feedback is greatly appreciated.
This book sparks a lot of discussion amongst my students and I love hearing the passion and empathy in their voices! I can't wait to read what they write for their reaction to the text!
Although I've read this book for years and I enjoy the maturity of discussion it brings to my classroom, I probably wouldn't recommend it for primary grades.
Linking up this lesson with my buddy Jennifer for A Peek at My Week linky!
Have a wonderful week!
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