Pistes d'exploration

After reading the book description on the inside cover, discuss the decision to kill the zoo animals. Reflect on this again after reading the story. Did your opinion change or become more resolute?

Discuss how the use of colour helps convey the mood of the story.

What is the purpose of retelling this story annually in Japan? What is the purpose of reading it in your class? Practise retelling the story with a partner so that you can share the message of peace with someone who is unfamiliar with the book.

Discuss the cover and make predictions about the story. Listen to the teacher reading aloud the back and inside covers and the note to readers. How do you envision the story now? Do you need to readjust your predictions?

After the story is read aloud, discuss what you understand about the effects of war on people, animals, structures and organizations. What types of decisions must be made? Who has this responsibility?

Compare the effects of war on people with the effects of conflicts, violence, bullying, intimidation, riots. How are they similar and different? Show your understanding in a graphic organizer.

Discuss the cover and make predictions about the story. Listen to the teacher reading aloud the note to readers on the inside cover. Do your predictions change?

What is the purpose of retelling this story annually in Japan? Take notes on index cards and practise retelling the story with a partner so that you can share the message of peace with someone unfamiliar with the book.

Visit Canada’s official Veterans Affairs website and research animals in war. Write a report on a chosen animal and its role during war. During an inside/outside circle activity, share your learning with classmates.

So Far From the Sea, The Butterfly, The Harmonica, Sadako, Proud as a Peacock, Brave as a Lion

Mots-clés

Picture book , death , elephants , Japan , peace , war , World War II , zoos

Commentaire descriptif

Allied bombs are dropping on Tokyo, and there are safety concerns at Ueno Zoo: what if cages are bombed and dangerous wild animals roam free? Straightforward language recounts the death of zoo elephants, John, Tonky and Wanly. Unable to feed them poison (“John was a very clever elephant … each time he brought a poisoned potato to his mouth … he threw it to the ground, kerplunk!”) or inject it (“the big needles broke off with a loud snap”), the elephants are condemned to death by starvation. Realistic watercolour illustrations convey an expressive pathos well suited to the excruciating events that follow. Skilled brushstrokes depict the slow deterioration of the beloved animals. One spread shows bowed zookeepers, unable to look at the condemned, as a trunk reaches from behind bars. Another image shows them in the zoo office, “hoping and praying that … the war might be over and the elephants would be saved.” Instead, it is death that finally releases the elephants, and “Bombs began to drop on Tokyo once more.” This heartbreaking indictment of war is sure to reach readers of any age.