Customer Reviews

Elephant Tears: Mask of the Elephant (MacGregor Family Adventure Series)

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As a librarian and mother, it is about time an author writes books for young adults that have nothing to do with [love making], drugs, or dysfunction. Mr. Trout brings world issues to the attention of young adults while appealing to their sense of adventure. This particular book uses the written word to describe an area that not a lot of young people have ever seen, and while they read the book, the images of Africa truly come alive.

If you were just trying to decide whether to buy this book or not, I have one comment- BUY IT!!! It is a GREAT book that is fast-paced, often educational in a fun way, and thrilling- I LOOOVE this book series and i'm about to buy the third one, falcon of abydos, buh-bye!

PS: BUY IT!!!

Elephant Tears by Richard Trout released by LangMarc Publishing is the second book by this author. It is better than his first--if that it possible. This book will have the Young Adult audience begging to read more. The author's description of the African wilderness and wildlife is wonderful. The suspense he has added to it throughout the book made it a marvelous read. The MacGregor family adventures continued in this action book. I wondered how long it would take the three teenagers to get to safety. The intrigue of animal poachers, high tech equipment, and helicopters galore keep me on the edge of my seat. I can't wait to see where the next book takes this family of adventurers.

Richard Trout's Elephant Tears: Mask Of The Elephant is a thriller adventure novel set in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, moves across the wild game parks of East Africa, and ends up at the seaport of exotic Mombasa, when the three MacGregor kids, their mother, and their zoologist father are in search over ivory poachers. Superbly researched and written, Elephant Tears is one of those infrequent novels for young readers that are so easy to pick up, and so hard to put down! Also highly recommended is Trout's first adventure novel featuring the MacGregors, Cayman Gold: Lost Treasure Of Devils Grotto.

Richard Trout's second book, Elephant Tears, kept my attention to the end just like his first novel. Again, Trout's knowledge of endangered wild life, research of the customs and people, and descriptions of the land made me feel like I was in Africa.

Poaching, government corruption, and the beautiful animals of Africa combine to make Trout's second MacGregor Family Adventure a great read. Once again Trout puts the MacGregor family in an exotic location with an action-packed adventure that you won't want to put down. This time it is not just the kids as Jack MacGregor and his kids gets stranded by poachers in the African bush to test their survival skills. Trout also helps us see the tradgedy of what poachers do to the great animals of Africa. If you want a book that takes you on a African adventure, this is it.

From the author of CAYMAN GOLD comes the second of three books in the MacGregor Family Adventure Series. Teens who enjoy the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, and young adults who thrive on outdoor adventure and action stories, won't be able to put ELEPHANT TEARS down until they've read it all the way through. At least once.

Richard Trout, author, environmental biologist, consultant and college professor, invites us to join the MacGregor family on an East African wildlife adventure. We hit the ground running as the novel opens in the Masai Mara Wildlife Preserve where we join Chris, Heather and Ryan MacGregor, a baby elephant and a handful of angry lions. We're immediately pulled into a world of survival of the fittest. Unfortunately for much of the wildlife, poachers are sometimes the fittest, rifles in hand.

Through the eyes of the MacGregor teens and their Kikuyu friend, Rebecca, we cross the Serengeti, hike Mt. Kilimanjaro, camp in the bush with hyenas, and give thanks we aren't having roast agama lizard for dinner. Rebecca and the MacGregor teens encounter the heart-breaking devastation the poachers leave behind, while fighting for their own lives in the African bush. What will happen if the poachers learn they've been exposed? Will the teens' parents find them before it's too late?

Trout weaves his extensive knowledge of wild animal conservation and primitive camping and survival skills into a novel rich with action-packed scenes. His informative, entertaining style infuses us with enthusiasm for conservation and environmental issues. By the time we read the last page, we want more. Trout, a passionate advocate of endangered and threatened animals, gives us more, with his heart-felt introduction, glossary, list of library and internet resources, and recipe for Marrakech Stew.

It's Clive Cussler for teens. Once you read ELEPHANT TEARS, you'll be eagerly scanning the shelves for copies of the first and third books in the MacGregor Family Adventure Series.

5 out of 5 wildlife preserves
Reviewed by True North
gottawritenetwork.com
May 18, 2005

And I thought his first book, Cayman Gold was amazing! If you loved that book, you'll love this one just as much (maybe even better)! In Elephant Tears: Mask of the Elephant, the three MacGregor teens (Chris, Heather & Ryan), native Kikuyu and Samburu, and an American aviator, team up to save endangered animals and bring jusice to the criminals that endanger them. The book starts out with the three teens and a park ranger driving from Mombasa to the Tsavo National Park, when a Mamba gets in their car, the tire blows out, wild dogs chase them, and lions surround them! And that's just in the first chapter! Need I say more? The whole book is very exciting and adventurous. There is not one place in the book where you are tempted to put the book down and go to sleep!