After mentioning it just the other day, I wrapped up Water for Elephants today on our back porch, enjoying the breeze, listening to the pups snore as they sunbathed, and surprisingly catching a LOT of sun! Ah! Anyway, I really enjoyed this book and am glad I took my advisee’s suggestion to check it out! It did have mature content to it [i.e. language, sexuality, violence], so I’d keep that in mind if recommending it to students. However, I definitely see this as a book several of my students would love to read (and actually, again, it was recommended to me by one!).
Gruen did her research. And she talks about it in the author notes at the back of the novel. For me, that’s what made the entire story come alive. The fact that all of those details came from some story that encompassed the circus era really made all of the intricate details stick out even more! And, who wouldn’t fall in love with the main character, Jacob, as we follow him on his journey after he loses everything. In addition, if you’re an animal lover, your heart will feel the highs and lows of all of those characters mentioned, too.
I’ve noticed the book will be a movie this spring, and though as I’ve stated before I’m not a big book to movie fan, I am interested to see how the directors set everything up for it!
English Teacher, too. 