THE SECRET ELEPHANT

Friendship endures despite warfare.

Sheila the baby elephant is the only one of her kind at the zoo, but her redheaded, pale-skinned keeper is her family; they do everything together. But their routine changes when war breaks out. Planes drop bombs, causing loud explosions that hurt Sheila’s ears. The keeper sneaks into the zoo at night and rubs Sheila’s ears to calm her. Soon, the two companions get braver and leave the zoo together—Sheila thinks she is very stealthy, squeezing through iron fences—all the way to the keeper’s “enclosure,” where they spend the night before returning each morning. As the war continues and Sheila keeps growing, this situation gets harder to maintain, until one day Sheila breaks through a fence while chasing a dog. Sheila’s no longer allowed to leave the zoo, but the keeper continues to keep her company at night. This sweet story of animal-human friendship is based on a real zookeeper who cared for an elephant housed at Northern Ireland’s Belfast Zoo during World War II. Backmatter offers more background on Sheila and her keeper, Denise Weston Austin, as well as some context for the war. Sheila narrates, so the tone mostly remains light, focusing on the little elephant’s relationship with her beloved keeper even as the sounds of bombs fill the air. The charming illustrations are soft with a vintage quality, using lighting and shading to great effect.

Heartwarming.