Bound To Stay Bound

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School Library Journal - 09/01/2011 Gr 5–9—The poignant recollections of 82-year-old Lizzie capture the imaginations of her listeners, a nurse and her young son, who sit in rapt attention by her nursing-home bedside. Lizzie's engaging story is seamlessly laced with historical facts about the February 1945 bombing of Dresden, zoo directives to euthanize the animals during bombings, and the desperate plight of defeated Germans caught between advancing Russian and Allied forces. Lizzie's family included her exuberant younger brother; her compassionate mother, a zookeeper for elephants; and her absentee father, who was conscripted into the German army. When the Allied forces began the infamous firebombing of Dresden, the family and her mother's beloved elephant, Marlene, fled. Joining a wave of fellow refugees, they survived, thanks to chance encounters with a downed Allied navigator whom they secretly "adopted" as a family member, and with a countess who provided a safe house for anyone in need. After the war Lizzie's parents and Lizzie and her beloved navigator were reunited. Twenty years later, Lizzie "found" Marlene performing in a traveling French circus. The elephant had not forgotten her wartime companion. This well-paced, heartwarming narrative by a master storyteller will appeal to readers on several levels-as a tale of adventure and suspense, as a commentary on human trauma and animal welfare during war, as a perspective on the hardships facing the German people in the final months of World War II, and as a tribute to the rich memories and experiences of an older generation.—Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 10/01/2011 Alternating narratives tell the story of a family’s remarkable survival of the Allied bombing of Dresden in 1945. Lizzie’s mother works at the Dresden Zoo, which plans to destroy its largest animals lest they escape during a bombing. Mutti rescues Marlene, an orphan elephant she raised from infancy. Marlene takes to her new family, particularly to Lizzie’s little brother, Karli, and when the bombers arrive, Marlene accompanies them on their trek across Germany, away from the invading Russians and toward the advancing American army. Along the way, they meet a wounded Canadian soldier, who himself becomes an integral part of this makeshift family. Morpurgo frames the story with a contemporary perspective. Lizzie, now an elderly woman in a nursing home, tells her tale to the young son of a nurse who reminds her of her own young brother. The occasional interruptions to the story build suspense and add a layer of resonance to Morpurgo’s poignant and thoughtful exploration of the terrible impact of war on both sides of the fighting. - Copyright 2011 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 12/01/2011 In the present day, an old woman named Lizzie tells a nurse and her young son the story of her past during the war. Young Lizzie, just sixteen in 1945 in Dresden, Germany, knows that the war is getting worse, and she’s particularly horrified by the fact that the zoo where her mother works plans to shoot the animals to keep them from becoming dangerous during the chaos of bombing. Her mother, however, manages to bring a young elephant, Marlene, home to their house, much to the delight of Lizzie and her little brother, Karli. Marlene takes off into the adjoining park one night, and the family chases after her, just as the first bombers begin to drop their payloads onto Dresden. With no city now to return to, the family presses onward, Marlene in tow; they meet up with and eventually form an alliance with Peter, a stranded RAF navigator, traveling together towards the Americans and, hopefully, safe refuge. While both the narrative framework and the events events are a bit contrived at times, readers compelled by the straightforward “you are there” storytelling and dramatic events will hardly give that a thought. Young Lizzie’s story (differentiated from the framing tale by typeface change) is quick-paced and moving, and her teenage viewpoint is believable as she falls for Peter and also tries to make sense of the wartime actions of the adults around her (her pacifist mother, for instance, sings a different tune when confronted with an actual “enemy”). An author’s note explains the historical inspirations for Morpurgo’s story, including a woman in Belfast who cared for an elephant at her home during the war. JH - Copyright 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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