Tarra & Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends

Tarra & Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends. Buckley, Carol (author and photographer). (2009). New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 32 pages. ISBN: 978-0-399-25443-7.

NonFiction: Informational: Ages 3 to 5 years

Topics and Main Points:

This story takes place at an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.  Tarra was the only elephant without a friend, so her and Bella formed an unlikely bond.  they did everything together.  One day, when no one could find Bella, they noticed that Tarra was standing in the same spot and wouldn't move.  Searchers looked all around and found Bella lying in the grass, she was hurt and couldn't walk.  The humans took Bella to a vet and found out she had a spinal chord injury, so they took her home to rest.  Tarra stood fr two days in the spot where Bella had last seen her, waiting for her.  She found the barn where Bella was being kept and they saw each other through the window and began talking.  Tarra went to the barn everyday until Bella got better.  You can find them playing together everyday, and Bella still limps from her injury, but the two best friends are never far apart.

Author/Photographer:

The books text and photographs are both the work of Carol Buckley, the owner of the elephant sanctuary.  The layout of the book is very simple, with groupings of photographs over blue and lime green backgrounds.  Carol's writing style involves describing the pictures in great detail, and interpreting the animals behaviors towards each other.  A Booklist review found that "the photos make good use of the animals’ disparity in size, and the text doesn’t strain itself by trying to make the story unnecessarily earth-shattering."  Some reviewers were not so pleased with Buckley's offering.  Science Books and Films called it "completely superficial, a wade through a puddle of cuteness whose sole aim appears to make parents feel a twinge of warm-and-fuzzy as they read to their children."  The review goes on to say, "as it stands, it is a saccharine treatment of an interesting bit of animal behavior and relationships that makes a Disney cartoon look like a National Geographic documentary by comparison."

Classroom Tie-ins: 
The book could be used during a life science unit, or a discussion of different animals.  It is a good read aloud, and a way to introduce nonfiction to students who think the genre is boring.

Personal Response:

I read this story out loud to a class of kindergarteners, and I worried it was too text heavy and would lose their interest.  Not only were they enthralled by the story, but they remembered details at the end and asked questions.  I love stories of unlikely friendships, and that was the unit we were doing for that month: friendship.  However, after reading a few reviews that were unfavorable, I could see where reviewers were coming from.  Buckley may have missed the opportunity to teach about animal behaviors more in depth, and the story is almost sickly sweet.  Seeing that it is intended for 3 to 5 year olds, one can hardly have expected her to go into any more detail.

Resources:
Booklist. (2009, October 1). [A review of the book Tarra and Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends by Carol Buckley]. Retrieved from:
http://www.clcd.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/cgi-bin/member/search/f?./temp/~rvIVoW:1

Science Books and Films. (date unnknown). [Review of the book Tarra and Bella: The Elephant and the Dog Who Became Best Friends by Carol Buckley]. Retrieved from:
http://www.clcd.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/cgi-bin/member/search/f?./temp/~rvIVoW:1