Tsuchiya, Y., & Lewin, T. (1988). Faithful elephants. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
32 pages.
GLE (grade level equivalent): 4.9
Lexile measure: AD640L (grades 3-4)
Keywords and vocabulary: Ueno Zoo, syringe, reluctantly, doomed, tottering, banzai trick, wailed.
Literal, Inferential and Application Questions for the reader:
LITERAL (reading “on the lines”)
1. Who is telling this story? where? while doing what? (see page 6)
2. Why did the army command the zoo keepers to kill all the animals? (see page 9)
3. What did John the elephant do with the poisoned potatoes? How did the zookeepers finally procure his death? (see pages 10 and 13)
4. Why did Tonky and Wanly do the banzai trick? (see page 16)
INFERENTIAL (reading “between the lines”)
1. Do the zookeepers and trainer appear helpless to you? If yes, tell why. If no, tell what was in their power to do.
2. Why were the animals in the zoo helpless?
APPLICATION (reading “beyond the lines”)
1. Give your thoughts about starvation as a means of death.
2. Why is death needed in order to “win” a war/wars?
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