Book Review: The Elephant in the Garden

Title: The Elephant in the Garden 
Author: Michael Mopurgo 
Publisher: HarperCollins 
Release Date: 09/06/2011
Pages: 233
Service: Gift 
Format: Paperback 
Buy: Book Depository

'Lizzie and Karl's mother is a zoo keeper; the family has become attached to an orphaned elephant named Marlene, who will be destroyed as a precautionary measure so she and the other animals don't run wild should the zoo be hit by bombs. The family persuades the zoo director to let Marlene stay in their garden instead. When the city is bombed, the family flees with thousands of others, but how can  they walk the same route with an elephant in tow, and keep themselves safe? Along the way, they meet Peter, a Canadian navigator who risks his own capture to save the family.  

Admittedly, Michael Mopurgo's book may be aimed for a younger reader than myself, but age was not something that stopped me from reading this book. I was give a box set of his for my 13th birthday and for some reason I had never gotten the chance to read any of them, I'm glad I finally got around to picking one out from there. 
'The Elephant in the Garden' tells the story of Elizabeth who is in a nursing home to one of the nurses and her son, Karl. She talks about her time in World War Two in Germany and how her and her family escaped the city of Dresden after it was bombed along with and elephant. 
There were a good few reasons that I enjoyed this story. It was just a book that you good read and just enjoy. It showed how strong family values and how this small family of three had to pull through a very harsh winter. How things weren't always easy but they did it as a family. It taught people the importance of family, even in the hardest of times. 
What I did really like about this book is that it showed World War Two from the German civilian's point of view which I think is something that people need to read and learn about. Sometimes, I think people forget that the people of Germany still had to live through the war like everyone else and not everyone agreed with what was going on. Personally, I think this book will be able to show younger readers and older readers exactly like. 
Mopurgo's writing style was something that I really did enjoy reading. It was quite easy to read and had a really nice flow to it. It wasn't patronising and it drew you into the plot. 
Though it wasn't a book that I'm head over heels in love with. I still did enjoy it and I think it's a book for someone who loves reading about civilians in the war without it being all too heavy.
Rating: ★★★