Travels with Tarra [Hardcover]

Carol Buckley (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

"Travels With Tarra is a heartwarming look at the life of one captive elephant and her devoted human caretaker, who realizes that Tarra's needs as an elephant are more important than anything else in their life together. All captive elephants should be as lucky as Tarra is now." -Richard Farinato, Director, Captive Wildlife Protection, Humane Society of the United States

What happens when you fall in love with a three-foot-tall, 700-pound infant covered with thick black hair?

Carol Buckley was a college student, studying exotic animal care, when she looked up from her homework one day to see a baby elephant walking past her house. The local tire dealer had bought the tiny elephant as a promotion gimmick for his store and was taking her for a stroll. Carol quickly volunteered to help care for and train Tarra, tried to meet the baby elephant’s emotional and social needs, and ended up buying her.

Tarra was bright, playful, and loved attention, so Carol taught her to do lots of tricks (including rollerskating and the hula), and for about twenty years they appeared at circuses, theme parks, and zoos, changing their lifestyle as Tarra’s needs changed and balancing the performing life with time at their farm.

But Carol began to dream of a place where elephants could just be elephants, where abused elephants could find a haven, and where old elephants could live out their days peacefully. She established The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, an 800-acre refuge now home to Tarra and five other elephants, with room for many more. A place just for elephants—no visitors—The Elephant Sanctuary has been featured on the award-winning PBS Nature documentary "Urban Elephants." Carol Buckley and Scott Blais were named "Heroes of the Planet" by Time Magazine for their work at The Sanctuary.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. Here's a personal account by a woman who fell in love with a baby elephant and spent 28 years training and caring for it. Buckley was a college student studying exotic animal care when she bought the baby Burmese elephant from a man who had paid to bring the animal to the U.S. to serve as a mascot for his tire company. Tarra eventually gained fame as the world's only roller-skating elephant, appearing on talk shows and in circuses. As Tarra aged, Buckley tried to find a safe haven for her, finally establishing The Elephant Sanctuary, an 800-acre refuge in Tennessee. Tarra's story is heightened by the attractive design of the book; silver-tone pages make attractive backgrounds for the text, and metallic accents border the artful black-and-white photos. The rather sentimental account may pique readers' interest in elephants and in the Sanctuary that Tarra inspired, especially if readers have seen the TV documentary. A short resource list cites five Web sites, a video, and a classroom guide on the Sanctuary. Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...Heartwarming...all captive elephants should be as lucky as Tarra is now." -- Richard Farinato, Director, Captive Wildlife Protection, Humane Society of the United States

"2006 KIND Children's Honor Book" -- National Association of Humane and Environmental Education, 2006

"Notable Books for Children 2002" -- Smithsonian Magazine, December 2002

"The life of Tarra is a wondrous story for students aged 6 to 12... black and white photographs are extraordinary." -- NSTA

2006 KIND Children's Honor Books "...poignant memoir with black-and-white photos...raises important question...Should wild animals be captive at all?" -- The National Assoc.for Environmental and Humane Education

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0884482413
• ISBN-13: 978-0884482413
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,030,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching story of a gentle soul, July 13, 2003

By 

Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels with Tarra (Hardcover)

I purchased this book because I admire Carol Buckley's work at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. For several years, I watched the heroine of this book, the Asian elephant Tarra, on the Sanctuary's website "Elecam," which records the elephants movements during the day. I vicariously fell in love with Tarra from watching her daily movements and was determined to learn more about her past life. This book provided me with a loving history of Tarra, how Carol came to meet her as a baby, purchased her and eventually take her around performing for the next 15 years.

But Carol Buckley had a conscience and a heart. She realized that Tarra was sick and tired of her life as a captive circus elephant. Even though Tarra was treated better than 99.9% of other circus animals, she still grew bored and frustrated with a life pleasing humans and living isolated from others of her own kind. The black and white photos of Tarra with Carol show her life as a performer. Finally, Carol was able to do something few of us are able to achieve: she was able to live her dream by creating a Sanctuary for abused, homeless and unwanted Asian elephants (soon to include African elephants as well). Tarra was the first inhabitant of the Sanctuary, and she was soon joined by others. The book also documents Tarra's happy new life in the company of other female Asian elephants.

This is a heartwarming, true story of Tarra and Carol. For anyone who loves elephants and is a compassionate soul, this is the book for you. Hopefully other needy elephants will someday get the opportunity of living in Hohenwald and getting to know both Tarra and Carol. Great book!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Fine Elephant Tale, August 26, 2002

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Travels with Tarra (Hardcover)

TRAVELS WITH TARRA is an enchanting, black & white book about one woman's lifelong friendship with a captive Asian elephant, brought to America as a baby to be a promotional gimmick for a tire dealership, back when that could still be done.

It is plain & simple reading, with a delightful tale to be told, of an affectionate & adventurous young woman & a bright & willing elephant.

A heartwarming read, filled with photos of those magnificent animals &, as Carol tells Tarra's story, we also get to see the ages of that quietly brave & dedicated young woman.

TRAVELS WITH TARRA is a unique book, to treasure always.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A dream came true, January 17, 2003

By 

Dan Koehl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels with Tarra (Hardcover)

Carol Buckley made her dream come true, a retirement for her elephant Tarra and a sanctuary for elephants on a farm in Tenesse.

Carol and Tarra was in showbusiness together for 20 years but Carol started to question what they did, and what she did to Tara. Having earned more money than she could use, she settled down on a farm in Tenessee, and established one of the few captive elephant sanctuaries in the world. Soon more elephants came to join, ...