Papa Tembo [Hardcover]

Eric Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

For half a lifetime the poacher and the elephant have been enemies--since the shattering day when the man massacred the young animal's herd, and paid for his crime with his own blood. Now the poacher is about to wreak his revenge at last; he'll slaughter the mighty elephant that maimed him. As man and beast move toward a final, terrible encounter, only one person can prevent a tragedy: the young girl who loves the elephant more than her own life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Campbell (The Shark Callers; The Place of Lions) sets this slow-going safari adventure on the African plains, pitting human intelligence against the primordial wisdom of an ancient elephant. The memory of the massacre of Papa Tembo's herd nearly 50 years ago haunts "the father of elephants," as well as 70-year-old Laurens van der Wel, the poacher whom Papa Tembo nearly trampled during his narrow escape. Now reduced to a crippled man whose "spirit was as hideously twisted as his leg," Laurens is a cardboard version of Melville's legendary sea captain; while Laurens, like Ahab, seeks revenge against the source of his physical pain and mental anguish, he lacks the awe for his enemy that gives the whale-obsessed villain his dimension. In charting the course of Lauren's hunt for the elusive elephant, Campbell plants obstacles in his path, namely the Blake family, researchers trailing Papa Tembo's new herd; and Hyram T. Johnson, an American concerned with protecting endangered species. Readers may glean some interesting details about animal behavior and African folklore, but it's a long wait to the final showdown between man and beast. Not surprisingly, the elephants are more humane than the humans. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-Three human dramas and one animal saga are skillfully paralleled in this ecological adventure set in Tanzania, primarily on the Serengeti. A Moby Dick-like narrative describes a hunter who was maimed by an elephant long ago and has spent his life hunting, exterminating, and poaching elephants to fulfill his insatiable need for revenge. A safari leader, his driver, and an American tourist (all introduced in The Place of Lions [Harcourt, 1995]) attempt to track the vengeful poacher before he destroys more animals. A British father and his two adolescent children study an elephant herd and grapple with the professional and emotional issues of scientific research. In addition to describing the members of this herd, the book also follows Papa Tembo, the elephant responsible for the poacher's injury. This great creature is personified with rich explanations of its thought processes and is given an almost spiritual nature. As the novel moves to its inevitably violent conclusion, the four story lines occasionally intersect in ways that are touching and thought-provoking. Each thread provides a different moral perspective, but occasionally ethical lines are blurred and questions are raised. The introduction of a truly venomous human villain expands on the man vs. animal survival adventure to include issues of personal responsibility and redemption. Vividly written and conscientious, this tale weaves together the beauty and danger of the physical landscape with the intriguing psychological landscapes of humans and elephants.
Kate Foldy, Northern Kentucky Univ., Highland Heights, KY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1 edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152017275
• ISBN-13: 978-0152017279
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,073,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is a GREAT book full of excitment, April 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Papa Tembo (Hardcover)

This book drags you in from the beggining. It is a marvouls story about a poacher, a herd of elephants, two anti-paochers and a scientic and his two children. Everyone young and old should read this book.