Customer Reviews

Elephant Run

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

ELEPHANT RUN is an exciting, historical adventure novel that will appeal to all middle grade readers (and their parents!). In 1941, Nick Freestone joins his estranged father at the family plantation in Burma to escape the bombs falling on England. Instead of finding refuge, he is plunged into the Japanese invasion of Burma. With the help of his young friend, Mya, Nick tries to learn more about the timber elephants trained on the plantation. Mya, a girl who hopes to become an elephant trainer, or "mahout," barely has time to show Nick around the plantation before Nick's father is taken prisoner by the Japanese. With Japanese soldiers in charge of the family home, Nick becomes an unwilling servant of the Japanese. But there are hidden passageways in the house, and soon Mya and Nick have found a way to escape into the jungle, riding on the back of a much-feared rogue elephant named Hannibal.

For readers who've already exhausted the many books about WWII in Europe, this book offers a view of the war in Asia. While the book is mainly about Nick and Mya, readers will see multi-dimensional Japanese, Burmese, and British characters and learn more about life in Burma before and during the war. Issues of colonialism, foreign exploitation, and the desire for Burmese independence are introduced by the various characters who people the story, but the novel is focused primarily on Nick and Mya's need to escape from their Japanese captors. The elephants are part of the story as well, with Hannibal and Miss Pretty representing some of the many elephants trained to work British plantations in Burma.

Fast-paced action drives this story forward, with historical details supporting the action. Nick's father is sent to work on the infamous Japanese railroad, and the story provides a look inside the labor camps. History never slows the action, but information about the Japanese invasion and Burmese reaction abound in the story. Teachers may want to use this story to draw reluctant readers into learning more about World War II in Asia. Be sure to have a map or atlas handy as you'll want to look up the places named in the story. Readers will be sure to want to learn more about elephants and "mahouts" after reading this novel. War Elephants makes good companion reading.

If you like fast-paced adventure novels, stories of World War II, or historical novels, you'll enjoy this exciting novel. My only complaint was the quick resolution at the end -- I would have liked to read more about Nick's actual escape and journey to Australia, but that would take another novel. Let's hope the author is planning to write more about Nick and Mya!

I am a mother of four children under 14, and always looking for well written historical fiction for my boys. My 10 year old needs the action in a book to start pretty quickly, or he will lose interest. I just finished reading this today, and I can't wait for him to read it. Smith is able to take a fairly complex subject, and make it interesting, and understandable, while teaching the reader a piece of the history of Burma during WWII. By the middle of this book, I could not put it down, I was so anxious to discover the outcome of Nick Freestone's fate. Fantastic!

An exciting tale of a 14-year-old boy in WWII Burma. When Japanese soldiers invade his father's plantation, Nick is forced to work as a servant and his father is imprisoned in a labor camp. Nick must join forces with others to make his daring escape and save his father. Great for ages 9-14.

My daughter age 9 read this book months ago and is still talking about it. She loves Roland Smith's writing and is hooked for life! Great choice for people who love to read.

Do you want to read the best book you will ever read in your life time well than read Elephant run it is an awesome book that you will never want to put down
Elephant run is a very good book made by Roland smith this is one of my favorite historical fiction book if ever read and it is only 318 pages
My favorite part of the book is when Nick, Mya and hilltop dress up as novice monks so they can sneak out of the camp there in
This is a great book about a fourteen year old kid named Nick who goes to visit his father in another country while were his lives is being bombed then the Japanese take over the teak plantation were his dad lives. Nick got separated from his dad and nick tried to go and escape to find his dad but you will have read this book to know what happens. You might also like Sasquatch or thunder cave I think this book is for anybody who wants to read an action packed story that is ten or older.

What if you were captured by the Japanese, separated from your father and then had to work for them? That is pretty much what happens in Elephant Run, by Roland Smith. The book takes place in Africa on a plantation made for mahouts to train their elephants. The plantation is surrounding a village called Hawks Nest that soon becomes a Japanese headquarters lead by Colonel Nagayoshi. A bright side for Nick, who is the main character separated from his father, is there is that a solder named Sonji who is nice to him. Nick and Mya are both prisoners of the Japanese who have the same goal, Mya wants to get her brother Indaw out of a Japanese camp and Nick wants his father, Mr. Freestone, out of the same camp. Hilltop is the most important character in the book. He gets Mya and Nick out of the Japanese headquarters and gives them a chance to get Nick's father and Mya's brother Indaw out of the work camp. The book takes place in 1945 during World War II. The book is very slow in the beginning, but when the Japanese get involved, about half way through the book it gets interesting. Overall, the book was very good. You just need to get half-way through it for it to become exciting. I think the book is between fiction and non-fiction. It does have non-fictional things happening in the book, but it is fiction because of the characters and story about them. If you enjoy something exciting, then Elephant Run is probably a good book for you.

Elephant Run is one of the best books I've ever read. In this novel, the year is 1941 and Nick Freestone has just moved from his mother's apartment in London to his father's teak plantation in Burma. Relieved to have escaped the German bombings, Nick can't wait to rebuild his relationship with his father, Jackson Freeston, whom he's has little contact with over the past ten years. Their reunion is disrupted, however, when the Japanese take over the plantation and send Jackson to a POW camp. Now a slave to the Japanese, Nick must work with his new friends, Hilltop and Maya to try to escape and rescue both Jackson and Maya's brother Indaw from the camp.
While reading this incredible book, I often found my knuckles white from gripping the pages at intense parts, or a wave of relief wash over me when the protagonists got out of a sticky situation. I have never seen a picture of Burma, I don't even know where it is on the map, but Roland Smith's articulate writing made me feel the humidity in the air as well as the rocking of the elephant's people rode on, and I could easily picture the scenery. I enjoyed the writing immensely!
Elephant Run is an amazing book! Read it!

My book club, the Reading Stars, chose Elephant Run to read. Quick flick on what hppens:
Nick Freestone is a boy living in London during the bombing of World war II. When his apartment is demolished his mother decides it would be safer for him living with his divorced father in Burma. But the war follows Nick. The Japanese invade...and that's where the story unfolds.

To be truthful, me and most of my book club group thought it was a complete drag at first. It began brightening, and then it had us surprised. We simply couldn't put it down!To be exact, me and my book club agreed it had a four out of five rating. Even if you pick it up, and it doesn't appeal to you at first, trust me, you'll be on your toes if you just keep going. I recommend this book to all of you...don't judge a book by it's first few pages!

This story begins when Germany bombed England. Nick Freestone's mother was worried Nick would not be safe in London. Their apartment was just destroyed and she was responsible for finding a new home for them. In the meantime she decided to send Nick to his father in Burma. Jackson Freestone owned the land of Burma and soon would pass it off to Nick. Though Nick's mother was terrified of the dangers in Burma she thought he would be safer there then in London. So she sent Nick off, but what she didn't know was that Nick wouldn't be back for a long, long time.
Nick made it to Burma and was in the car with an important man of Burma that worked with his father. He hadn't been to Burma in forever and barely remembered any names. In the car as well was the man's daughter, Mya. She was a pretty girl who loved the elephants that lived in the land and wanted to be a Mahout but girls weren't suppose to do that and this always made Mya very sad.
When Nick got to Hawks Nest, the building his father lived in, he looked around but did not see his father. He was gone and was coming back from a trip. All the next day Nick looked around Hawks Nest and the village. He met very important people and learned of the Burmese life. On his way back from exploring he was attacked by the most dangerous elephant, Hannibal. He was dangerous because he was attacked by a tiger and was never the same again.
When Jackson Freestone came back he took Nick on a ride throughout the land. During there ride they were invaded by the Japanese who wished to take over. While his dad, Mya, and Indaw, Mya's brother, were captured he hid and tried to escape when he was later captured by a nicer and older Japanese soldier who was not mean to him. His name was Sonji.
Nick was then captured, but his father pleaded that the Japanese would take Nick to India where he would be safer. They agreed but did not keep their promise. Jackson was forced to a labor camp wile Nick became a slave and worked around Hawks Nest. He slept in a workers room as big as a closet and could not get much sleep due to Bakong a Japanese man who would slap him with a whip if he was not up in time.
Mya was held in better conditions and Bakong wished to marry her since she was the most beautiful. She refused and later with the help of her great-grandfather, the Buddhist monk she escaped along with Nick. They escaped through a passage way in Hawks Nest and there Nick found out that his father was ill and would soon be dying. So the group decided to break out Jackson and Mya's brother. They succeeded and were off to a better place to live. That's where Mya and Nick fell in love.
This was an amazing story that kept my attention the whole way through. It was a very suspenseful adventure. The characters were so well described you fell in love with each and every one. I would recommend this story to anyone. It has a little bit of everything in it, love, adventure, mystery, and suspense. I hope everyone enjoys it just as much as I did.

My 10-year-old son and I found this novel captivating. Smith has a knack for conveying a sensitive lesson about colonialism (in this case of Burma by the British) through a suspenseful plot. As a female reader, I wish the character Maya had been a bit more developed, but the protagonist, Nick, is a wonderfully adventurous and self-critical kid, and you learn along with him about the wisdom of indigenous Burmese and their profound relationships with elephants.