" The Girl who stole an Elephant" by Nizrana Farook

 " The Girl who stole an Elephant" by Nizrana Farook

Originally Published in 2020

Summary: The Girl Who Stole an Elephant follows the story of Chaya and her friends Neel and Nour in a past rendition of South Asia/India. This story feels like a Indian version of Robin hood where Chaya is the one who steals from the rich to give to the poor. In a regular event of stealing from the palace. Chaya happens to steal something far to valuable that ends up getting her friend Neel in trouble. In order to save her friend Chaya must make some tough decisions around morality and what it means to create a better world for the people around her. Without too many spoilers each chapter leaves the reader on the edge of their seat wondering how Chaya will escape the trouble she has gotten herself into this time. 

This would be a great read for any child in middle elementary school to middle high school. Academically it should be readable by most 5th graders but can easily be followed along with through the audiobook (the version I chose)  

Teaching Considerations: (Spoilers included) 

The primary considerations to using this novel in the classroom is teaching Plot. This story does a wonderful job of building excitement, anticipation and sometimes fear in each chapter of the book. It can sometimes feel like you don't know exactly when the climax of the book is supposed to be because each chapter leaves the reader feeling that the next 'big thing' is coming. For example in Chapter 6 we see that the jewels that Chaya had stolen in the first place, are safely recovered. However, the chapter ends when guards come into the shop where Neel works and discover the gems. The guards take him away and Chaya has to figure out what to do. Each major transition within the book feels like it's own plot map where there is rising action, climaxes, and falling action. Looking at these places would be great for students to see how certain events, characters, etc. affect the overall story. 

The first close reading(listening) I would have students look at is the afformentioned event from chapter 5. students can see that Chaya participates in losing the jewel, making her way to Nour's house to retrieve it, recovering the jewel and then all hell breaks loose again when her friend Neel is taken away by the guards. An activity I imagine could be helpful for students is just to look at plot elements within this chapter alone. They could identify the beginning, rising and falling actions and ultimately the climax that happens at the end of the chapter. Ideally this could be a place to look at authorial choices of leaving a cliffhanger at seemingly every chapter too. This one ends with Neel being taken away which ultimately leaves the reader wanting more. Students could reflect on their feelings to this and write about why it makes them want to continue on with the story. 

Another close read that would be good for students to look at is chapter 15. Chapter 15 is the actually climax for the novel and like chapter 6 feels like there are many pivitol moments even within the chapter itself. Teachers could consider having students look at the very last cliffhanger where (spoiler) chaya steals an elephant to help her and Neel escape. They could determine how the events before where chaya is nearly killed, gets hurt but makes it through to escape play a role in curating this story. They could examing how creating those events affects their reading and influences the whole story. 

This novel was a very very fun read. A female, young adult robin hood adventure that discovers what it means to create a better world and more about herself along the way. The audio book is wonderful and I imagine reading it would be just as fun. This would be a great mentor text to have students look at to creating their own fiction/ fantasy stories. They could learn plot elements and how to create compelling narratives through the deliberate placement of cliffhangers. 

If you like this book another book to look at/ Read is Rowan Hood: Outlaw girl of Sherwood Forest. It tells a similar story of a young girl who steals from the rich to give to the poor. It embodies strong young adult female characters that would inspire anybody.