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

by Carol Buckley, Carol Buckley (Photographer)

Overview

A friendship unlike any other!

After retiring from the circus, Tarra became the first resident of the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. When other elephants moved in and developed close friendships, only Tarra remained alone—until the day she met a stray mixed-breed dog named Bella. From then on, the two were inseparable.

Color photographs of Tarra and Bella at home in the Elephant Sanctuary deftly illustrate this inspiring story of inter-species companionship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780147510631
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/06/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	656,402
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD990L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Carol Buckley is cofounder and CEO of The Elephant Sanctuary. Carol has over 30 years’ experience in the care and management of elephants and in 1995, Carol co-founded the nation's first natural-habitat refuge for sick, old, and needy endangered Asian elephants with her own elephant, Tarra. She is a well-known speaker on the subject of elephant care. Carol attended the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California, and she is licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. She is also the author of two picture books.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A sweet and sincere offering.”
—Booklist
“Buckley’s straightforward text and her empathy-building photos warmly present an indelible image of this unlikely friendship without trying to explain it. It simply is.”
—School Library Journal
"The animals’ friendship will inspire young readers."
—Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

A sweet and sincere offering.”
—Booklist
“Buckley’s straightforward text and her empathy-building photos warmly present an indelible image of this unlikely friendship without trying to explain it. It simply is.”
—School Library Journal
"The animals’ friendship will inspire young readers."
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Children don't need to be convinced of the reality of interspecies friendships. To some adults, it might seem strange that hippo Owen and tortoise Mzee became best buds, but kids recognized immediately that there was nothing odd about that bond. Similarly, they will experience instant empathy with Tarra and Bella, the elephant and stray dog of this adorable children's book. Carol Buckley, the cofounder of Tennessee's Elephant Sanctuary, tells the story of the deep friendship between these differently sized creatures with heartfelt words and heartwarming photographs.

With a conversational narrative and copious photographs, Buckley, cofounder and executive director of Tennessee’s Elephant Sanctuary, spotlights the true-life friendship between an unlikely pair of animals. Following in the footsteps of hippo and tortoise duo Owen and Mzee, Tarra, a retired circus elephant who needed “elephant friends and lots of room to roam,” and Bella, one of the sanctuary’s stray dogs, forge an immediate and strong bond. In one poignant scenario, Tarra stands guard by the ditch where an injured Bella is lying until sanctuary workers locate her, and remains in that spot for two days, waiting for her return. The elephant later stays by the barn where she correctly senses her friend is until a caregiver carries the ailing dog outside. Shots of Tarra petting Bella with her trunk are among the book’s most endearing pictures, which range from snapshotlike to skillfully framed images; also notable are photographs that underscore the dramatic difference in the animals’ sizes. An endnote gives additional information about the sanctuary and its mission. Though the lime-green background on some pages is distracting, the animals’ friendship will inspire young readers. Ages 3–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

A sweet and sincere offering.

Booklist

Gr 3–5—Unusual friendships occur in the animal world—a racehorse insisting on sharing living quarters with a goat, a cat lovingly raising a litter of bunnies—examples abound, especially on the Internet. But here the relationship is between such disparate critters as a stray dog and an elephant retired from the entertainment industry. No one knows why Bella (the dog) decided to accompany Tarra (the elephant) everywhere, or why Tarra allowed it in the first place (animals at the Elephant Sanctuary are not tolerant of dogs who hang about). Buckley's straightforward text and her empathy-building photos warmly present an indelible image of this unlikely friendship without trying to explain it. It simply is. The book also includes a segment on the history and goals of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, TN. Fans of Isabella and Craig Hatkoff's Owen & Mzee (Scholastic, 2006) will eat this up.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

School Library Journal