Lexington is a strong willed girl with a very curious spirit. Not knowing where she came from pushes her curiosity to the limits. Fischer proves to be a great friend and aiding adventurer. 
The Elephant’s Girl is a great book about family, friendship and gives awesome insight into the ability of elephants.

I really enjoyed this book! It started a little slowly but gained a lot of momentum in the middle. I most enjoyed the characters. Lex was a great main character. The author does a phenomenal job of detailing Lex and the result is a vibrant main character who I rooted for the whole book. I loved Lex's friendship with Fischer and think this is a great relationship for readers to see. I also loved the relationship between Roger and Lex. It was deep and caring and added a nice touch of family into the book. 

I will definitely purchase this for my 2 elementary school libraries.

"The Elephant's Girl" combines elements of family relationships, nature, and magical realism to create a story about an adolescent girl's search for her family roots. Lexington has grown up living at a zoo with her guardian who works there as the train engineer. She arrived at the zoo following a tornado, and has never been able to find her parents. With the help of her friends (human and nonhuman), Lexington finds clues to her heritage. Elephants and how they communicate with other living things play an important role in this book.

The characters are realistic and likeable. The plot moves along quickly and contains enough excitement, magic, and mystery, as well as animal love, to satisfy middle grade students. As an adult, I loved this book and learned a lot about elephants and zoos.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Thanks for the Arc for an honest review but this book I don’t know what it is about it but it took me a while to get through but I got through it and it was okay I do like the authors writing style and I like the way the main character connected to the elephants!

The book was unrealistic, but kids won't care. It's not supposed to be Magical Realism, if that's a category, I don't believe, but I feel like the term fits. It was fine.

A beautiful read that I really enjoyed! I don't often read this genre or this kind of story but I really liked this one!

I actually requested this from Netgalley for my 10 year old granddaughter.  

I thought that this was such a sweet story about a lost little girl.  It has everything that you could ask for; a little supernatural, a little mystery, a little animal love and so much more...

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's Crown Books for Young Readers for this advanced readers copy.  This book released in May 2020.

Oh my goodness! This book may go down as one of my favorites of 2020. In the Elephant's Girl, you meet a girl who shouldn't be alive. During a terrible tornado, she is swept away by the storm. She ends up in an elephant's enclosure in a zoo. The elephant does something miraculous and manages to protect her instead of trampling her. The story continues as the young girl grows up with a foster family, and the relationship between the girl and the elephant morphs into more than one could ever believe is possible.

I LOVED this book!  If you like middle grade fiction and are looking for somethng with a lot of mystery, a little bit of magical realism, and a little action, definitely pick this up.  This book is very well written!  The characters are lovable, and it takes place behind the scenes of a zoo.  Plus, who doesn't love elephants?!

This is a heartwarming book about a girl finding out about herself and her past. I couldn't put this book down. It is beautifully written. My daughters 10 and 12 enjoyed it as well.

Rimington creates a cast of characters that you can't help but love. You can feel the curiosity, joy and pain coursing through the characters. What does it mean to be a family? And can animals help answer that question? An excellent book for middle grade readers.

Middle grade has been such a great escape for me lately, and I loved this one so much! This story is set in a zoo, which is such a fun element for a children's book. Focus is on family and and friendship, and what it means to belong. I can't wait to add this one to my kiddo's bookshelf!

This book was an interesting blend of realistic fiction, fantasy/paranormal and mystery. The book included topics such as family, friendship and animal rights. It was a bit of a slower read for me. The mystery was definitely there, but I was not always completely invested in it. I also found some aspects of the book to be confusing at times, such as the wind talking to Lex. However, I really enjoyed the zoo setting and Lex's relationship with the elephants. These aspects occasionally reminded me a bit of The One and Only Ivan. I also enjoyed Lex's friendship with Fisher and Lex's relationship with her foster father. I think this might be a good choice for readers that are fans of Katherine Applegate and/or Kate DiCamillo.

There seems to be a very serious tone of children's books this year, and I'm not sure that I'm here for it. Kids lives are already so complicated; their literature should be escapism. However, The Elephant's Girl takes a serious topic (possible abandonment/loss of a family and memories) and adds some magical elements and zoo animals and creates something wonderful for kids and adults to enjoy. 

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This is a totally engaging book about a young girl, who was found after a terrible storm. And her first rescuer was an elephant in a zoo. Her finding was advertised widely, but no family members were ever found and so the zoo and an employee there becomes her family. She and the elephant who found her communicate throughout the story. She stumbles upon a travel trailer in the woods one day, and her adventures really begin, especially when she returns to the spot and finds no evidence the trailer and the lovely lady in it were ever there.

This book is a wonderful blend of contemporary and mystery with a paranormal twist. Lex doesn’t know anything about her background. At five years old, she was discovered at the zoo with one of the elephants after a tornado, and her family was never found. She’s been raised at the zoo, and ever since has been able to talk to the wind. It took me a little while to figure out if this book was truly a contemporary fantasy or if Lex just thought she heard the wind, but things take an even stronger supernatural turn when Lex starts seeing a ghost who died in the tornado. She needs to unravel the mysteries of the ghost’s past to help make things right for her so the ghost can move on.

I think many kids will connect to Lex, who’s always felt like an outsider. She has her best friend Fisher, who also lives at the zoo, but most other kids and places outside the zoo feel overwhelming to her (kids tend to tease a girl who talks to the wind). The mysteries and the supernatural elements will keep kids turning the pages, and the intriguing cast of characters will keep them engaged. I found myself falling in love with everyone at the zoo, especially Lex’s guardian Roger. Themes of found family and friendship are woven into an intriguing plot, making for a fantastic MG read!

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher for review purposes. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

Richly layered storytelling, beautiful and thought-out characters, a theme of belonging and finding your family, and my favorite animals - elephants - make up what I am calling one of the best stories of the year. Rimington nails the magical realism genre without making it gimmicky. I wouldn't have guessed this was a middle-grade book had it not been for the shorter chapters because the plot is so faceted. Sadly, this is Rimington's only published book so far and I am eagerly awaiting news of more to come. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Seven years ago Lexington was discovered under the protection of an elephant named Nyah on the Lexington Zoo grounds after a tornado ripped through the town.  After a fruitless search for her parents, she is taken in by the Zoo's railroad engineer, One day when Lexington is helping in the elephant barn, she hears a rumble and can see pictures in her head of a scene from the Nyah's memory which seems to offer clues to Lexington's past.

This story was very engaging and the elements of communicating elephants and ghosts pulled me in as I followed Lexington figure out the mystery of her origin.

On the other hand, I grew up in Nebraska, close to where the story was set and had a hard time getting past the improbability of a zoo and public transportation in the middle of the state. I think, however, most readers will not have an issue with this.

When Lexington was a very young girl, she was found in an elephant enclosure being protected from a tornado by an elephant named Nyah. No one could find out where she came from and where her family was located. Lexington grew up in a zoo in Nebraska with her guardian, Roger, and her best friend, Fisher. Will she ever find out where she came from? 
The Elephant’s Girl is a fabulous magical realism book that should be in every library. It is so well written that adults will enjoy it just as much as middle grade readers. By the end of the story, you will fall in love with all of the characters, especially the elephants. I like how the back matter includes further research and ways to help elephant conservation. This was definitely one of my favorite books of 2020!

Lovely middle grades novel that shows us all the true meaning of family. Lexington Willow is searching for something - her family, a lost treasure, herself. With the help of those who care for her the most, she finds exactly what she has been looking for - happiness. An all around good read that leaves you smiling.