I have to admit this 240 page middle grade OWN voice book had me invested and glued to the pages.  I was swept away to Sri Lanka and in disbelief at the boldness, cleverness, and spunkiness of the Robin Hood-esque 12-year-old protagonist.  I could not put it down as my head worked over time to figure out how this trio of children, one being a Muslim girl, was going to get out of the heap of trouble they had caused.  Yes, admittedly it wraps up a bit too quickly and simply, the main character Chaya doesn't learn her lesson and is a terrible friend, and there isn't a good moral of lying and stealing being bad.  But all that aside, the book is a fun adventure that while written pretty straightforward and clearly, is rich in adventure, culture, and excitement for second to fourth grade readers (and 40 year old moms that love strong girls).

SYNOPSIS:

Chaya is the daughter of a tribal representative, whose mother has passed away.  She goes to school, attends the temple once a week to learn Sanskrit, and at dawn is known to steal things to give to those in need.  At night time, people are on guard, expecting trouble, but dawn seems to be the perfect time to take what she needs from people that won't even notice.  The book starts out with her stealing jewels from the Queen with the hopes of helping a friend who was bitten by a crocodile get medical help in the next town over.  The people in Sarendib have an unjust king, and stealing from his wife to help take care of people that need assistant is a job Chaya takes seriously.  Her heart is in the right place, but when a guard sees her she stops to visit a friend who works in a wood shop to hide the jewels until the heat dies down.  The box they hide the stolen goods in is purchased by a young Muslim girl, and now Chaya has to steal them back from her to get them to people that are in need.  

The chain of events is just getting started, and when the jewels are discovered the wood working Neel takes the blame and is imprisoned, and the new girl in town, Nour, is determined to help free Neel from prison and save the villagers from being tormented by the royal guards.  Chaya devises a plan to free Neel from the palace dungeons, but nothing ever quite goes to plan and all the prisoners are freed.   As she runs to escape her own doom, she steals an elephant to get away, the king's elephant.

The entire story is a series of follies and at each turn the children have really good intentions, they just keep snowballing into situations beyond their control with the stakes constantly multiplying.  I really don't want to give it away, but they might just bring down a monarchy as they tromp through the jungle on an elephant, accidentally burn down villages, and find that even though Nour is a wealthy meat eater, they can in fact be friends.

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love that the story is outrageous, yet grounded.  I was sucked in from the first few short chapters and didn't look back.  Chaya is oh so plucky and her fallibility and flaws make her so endearing.  She is a bit of a mean girl to Nour, but I think she shows growth.  The slight raised eyebrow regarding her, is that she didn't learn some grand lesson, and in fact is possibly emboldened by her thieving and getting away with it.  There probably should have been some humbling at the end, but she is bold and outspoken, and not one for regrets.  I absolutely love the letter she left her father owning up to her role in the whole hullaballoo, and as an afterthought acknowledging that she skipped two days of school.  She is a cheeky one, but her heart is huge and she has her own sense of integrity that is unwavering. 

I like that Nour is acknowledged as being Muslim, eating meat, and going to mosques before she moved.  It doesn't articulate that Chaya doesn't like her for her faith, but it isn't helping the two girls befriend each other either.  I love the elephant, and the plants, and fruits, and animals that bring the story to life.

FLAGS:

Lying and stealing. Some destruction of property.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I can't see me doing this as a book club selection, it is just too young of a target audience, but it would be a blast to read aloud to a second or third grade class, or to assign in a classroom setting.  The chapters are really short that early chapter readers will feel accomplished when they complete the book, and the subject matter will compel them to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next.

This an absolutely adorable book about adventure, friendship, and right and wrong. The culture and setting were refreshing and wonderful.

This was a fun and engaging read, with a plot and characters that were entirely enjoyable. There is thievery, adventure, friendship, a coup, and most importantly, community.

We loved how brave and selfless (with a touch of daredevilry) our heroine was. She had sass and spoke her mind, and we enjoyed that. She was also fiercely loyal and refused to leave a friend behind, especially when it was her actions that had endangered them.

But Chaya is also compassionate and aware of the oppressed circumstances in which most of her neighbours live and tries her best to alleviate their worries in whatever way she can, even if it means employing certain sleight of hand tactics.

There are laughs, a fantastic elephant, a trek through the jungle, and rebels. A truly enjoyable read that should be shared with the middle grade readers in your life.

I enjoyed this quick middle grade story that takes place in the jungles of Sri Lanka. What the author does really well is taking us into the story and introducing us to some great characters. It’s a bit rushed and, as an adult reading this, completely unbelievable. But for a child (which this book is of course aimed at!) its completely awesome. Why couldn’t a whole coup be successful because of a couple of kiddos? Kids want to feel their importance in the world and this book reinforces that what they do matters.

Rating: Solid Book

The Girl Who Stole an Elephant is a historical fiction, middle grade novel that follows the escapades of three young children in Serendib, an Old Persian name for what is now known as Sri Lanka. Chaya is the twelve year old daughter of her village's headman who regularly steals from the rich of the city in order to help those of her village who are in need. She steals the Queen's jewels from her bedside table during a festival, setting into motion a chain of events that sweeps up her friend Neel, a woodcarver apprentice/assistant who is supporting his family with his wages, and a new girl to town, Nour, the daughter of a wealthy merchant who recently moved from the desert and is looking for friends. The adventure that follows involves the cascading chain reaction of Chaya's impulsive actions.

What I Liked:
- I thought that at the beginning, Chaya was a very realistic portrayal of an impulsive twelve year old who lacks the foresight to see the potential outcome of her well-intentioned actions. It seems obvious as an adult reading the story, but I felt like the general situation was something that I could see happening with some of my students.
- I enjoyed the lush descriptions of the jungle and the general setting that the trio finds themself in. It was interesting positioning Nour as a newcomer to town, which allowed for explanation of some of the things that Chaya and Neel took for granted as normal.

What I Didn't Like:
- I felt like the ending wrapped up really quickly without the same buildup that the rest of the story got. All of a sudden everything was alright.
- Also, it felt like Chaya all of a sudden became capable of forethought at the end when she was planning how to get back into the good graces of her people. I felt like this was slightly unbelievable given the picture I had of her in my head up until this point.

Overall, this was a fun and easy read. I didn't connect emotionally with the characters, but it was a great palate cleanser, and I definitely think it would be enjoyable for younger readers.

I received a copy of this from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my opinion.

I absolutely loved this book. The story line just touched my heart. My 12 year old Granddaughter wants to re read it. I highly recommend this.

This is a pretty cute little story, I enjoyed it. There were times that I felt the writing was a little confusing but it didn’t take away from the story too much - honestly, it was hard to know what was the Kindle format and what was the writing. I would likely recommend this book to English teachers or students because of the author’s voice and where she is from. It’s so essential for kids today to be exposed by other voices in other countries and cultures, especially since social media gives pretty skewed representations. I’m now trying to figure out how this story could be used in our school’s curriculum. Entertaining, sweet, sassy and funny, it would hit the mark for kids who enjoy reading or students who find reading a bit difficult.

This novel for middle-graders was light and entertaining and a decently enjoyable read. It took off at a great pace and was highly entertaining, but toward the end I have to say that it seems to lose track a bit and began to flounder, and the ending itself wasn't exactly thrilling, but overall I found it a decent read for the intended audience.

The story is of Chaya, a young girl who is an accomplished and shameless thief, but she uses her spoils to help out people in her local community. She finds she's bitten-off more than she can chew though, when she actually steals jewels from the queen herself, and ends up accidentally getting her best friend jailed as the thief. She rescues him and makes her escape on the king's prize elephant, and the adventure gets wild!

There were a few minor issues I had with the writing. Amazon's Kindle process is well-known for turning books into kindling. Why people continue to support Amazon and its practices, I do not know. I guess capitalism has a lot to do with it. As an example of what I mean, at one point I read this:

"You can see him, and then we’ll leave." He kept
53
looking at her from time to time."

As you can see, the page number (53 in this case) is incorporated right into the text. Kindle will not convert text properly unless it's the plainest vanilla. You cannot have headers and footers in your book when you let them convert it. Trust me, if Amazon's Kindle can screw up your text, it will gleefully do so. And you sure as hell don't ever want to let them kindle your images. This is one of many reasons why I refuse to publish with Amazon or have any truck with them or their Goodreads website.

There were other problems, such as misplaced backgrounds for the chapter header numbers. There was another example of kindling here, where a whole line was mashed together:

you.” Aroundthemthementalkedandlaughedandmunched their food,

I also read some seemingly anachronistic text, such as, "He’s been fired, Chaya." which not only sounds way too modern for the story setting, but you don't 'fire' a military guard! At another point I read,

"Orders?" said Chaya. "From whom?"

Some writers cannot get out of their own way, it seems! I know that 'whom' is technically correct here, but no one actually says 'whom' anymore in real life, unless they're really pretentious. That just jumped out at me as being inauthentic, especially since Chaya isn't exactly a language scholar!

But these are relatively minor quibbles and while you cannot cure a kindling of a novel, many of the issues hopefully will have been fixed in the final published version. The important thing is, like I said, that I enjoyed the story, the earlier parts and the beginning of their jungle adventure more than the last, I dunno, third or so? It seems like the king's men had a much easier time of tracking Chaya and co. in the jungle than reality would support, and I could have actually read a whole novel about Chaya's thieving exploits, but overall this was fun. I really liked Chaya. She did become a bit of a boor at times in the jungle, but despite her failings she was a strong female character and I'm all for those. I enjoyed this story. It was fresh, different, and entertaining for the most part, and I commend it as a worthy read. I'll be keeping an eye open for future Nizrana Farook novels.

Do you ever read a book that just brings memories flooding back to you? That was this book for me. Within the first chapter, it transported me back to being a young child falling in love with reading. It had everything I would have hoped for as a kid: danger, adventure, princesses, friendships (new and old), and of course, Ananda, the elephant who helped them along the way. I wasn't sure if I would really be able to enjoy or connect with a children's book at this age, but within minutes of starting it, I was sold. Farook does an incredible job bringing her characters to life on the page, and adding just the right amount of danger to balance out the more "feel-good" parts of the story. Each of the main characters-- Chaya, Neel, and Nour-- are well developed and each has his or her own unique personality that helps propel the story along.

I would definitely recommend this one to parents of young children, school librarians, and anyone else who wants to reminisce about the good old days of hiding under a blanket reading my flashlight long after your bedtime.

Title: The Girl who Stole the Elephant
Author: Nizrana Farook
Genre: Middle-grade
Rating: 4 out of 5

Chaya, a nobleman’s rebellious, outspoken, no-nonsense daughter, just can’t resist the shiny temptations the king’s palace has to offer. But playing Robin Hood for her impoverished community doesn’t come without risks, and when Chaya steals the queen’s jewels from a bedside table—a messy getaway jeopardizes the life of a close friend. After an equally haphazard prison break, Chaya barely escapes on the king’s prized elephant! With leeches and revolution lurking in the jungle, Chaya leads her companions on a thrilling adventure. After leaving her village as a thief, can she return as a hero? Or will Chaya’s sticky fingers be the beginning—or the end—of everything for the intrepid gang?

This was a cute, fun read. Chaya is a Robin Hood character, stealing from the evil, rich king to help people—until her best friend winds up in jail and sentenced to death for one of her thefts. There’s lots of adventure here and a vibrant setting as Chaya learns a lesson about how to treat others and taking responsibilities for her actions.

Nizrana Farook was born in Sri Lanka. The Girl Who Stole the Elephant is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Peachtree Publishing Company in exchange for an honest review.)

(blog link live 3/28.)

I had such high hopes for this book, written by a native of Sri Lanka, and the book set in her home country. The descriptive language used to paint a picture of the island was very well done. However I was disappointed in the main character, Chaya, and lack of consequences for any of her hurtful words, choices, and actions. Furthermore, there was very little character growth for Chaya or the friends and foes she met along the way. Chaya did not change her mind or her ways at all during the story. The plot was set up nicely, but some twists were forced and too quickly resolved. I had hoped the ending might redeem the book, but sadly, it was too convenient and did not. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Peachtree Publishing, for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: The Girl Who Stole an Elephant
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The Girl Who Stole an Elephant is a fast paced middle grade novel with some really great elements, that don’t quite come together.
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Chaya is a young thief with a Robin Hood vibe. Unfortunately, a heist gone too far gets her best friend arrested so she must break him out. With the help of a girl she doesn’t even particularly like, she makes a plan to free her innocent friend and escape. The three embark on a journey far away from the evil king hunting for them, but can they truly leave without looking back once they hear how the kind is treating the village due to Chaya’s mistake?
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I felt there were some really beautiful parts of the friendship between Chaya and Neel and a good lesson on treating others with kindness even when they are different from you. The story was adventurous and even had a small twist near the end that was enjoyable, but I was missing some depth and connection between the plot and the characters and the ending came a bit too easily. Overall an enjoyable read that fans of a quick paced adventure story will like.

Chaya is a girl who just wants to take care of those who need help in her community. But she chooses to do so by stealing from the rich to give to the poor. When she decides to steal the Queen's jewels things start to spiral and she is launched into an adventure for which she cannot plan the outcome.
Set in Sri Lanka, this book made me feel that I was in the jungle with Chaya and friends. I appreciated that Chaya, although she sees herself as this chivalrous and good person, also has to learn to contend with her own biases too. She still has some lessons to learn as the book concludes, but she has grown as a character.

This is a novel where events unfold at a rapid fire pace. Probably for readers on the lower end of the middle grade range, this will be one that you will want to discuss with your kids so they are sure to learn from Chaya's wins and mistakes.

This wasn't my cup of tea. Though I often love MG, this was a lower MG book that read more like chapter books with writing that stated what happened but without voice or a writing style that drew me in.

I did enjoy the setting, and the fun adventure with an elephant. The conflicts in the book were solved so quickly and easily that there wasn't much tension, but for young readers it could be an enjoyable fast-paced tale.

Even so, I wish the characters were a bit more developed, and I definitely could have done without the main character's persistent meanness towards the other girl.

-- Chaya is fiery, and brave -- but also reckless, unkind towards those different than she is, condescending, and sometimes just downright mean-spirited.

-- Neel is kind and selfless to a fault, willing to literally die for his friends, a peacekeeper, sometimes judgemental, but without much depth or nuance.

-- And Nour is rich, naive, and lonely. At first she's shown as clever, but later she's portrayed as clueless, also easily scared and prone to overreacting.

Also, I always dislike it when characters have similar names, like two names that both start with N and have 4 letters. It makes me have a really hard time remembering who is who.

Overall, I think a MG kid could love this if they're fans of conflict that isn't too intense and doesn't last too long before it's resolved. Especially if they really love elephants.

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book, because I found it very hard to get invested in the story. I was intruiged by the premise, but the main character didn't really stand out to me and as the book continued past the first three chapters, we didn't learn more about who she was and what she truly cared about. I also had quite a hard time visualizing what was happening since very few visual details were provided. I'm very sad that this didn't live up to my expectations, but thank you to the publisher for the chance to read it anyway.

-`ˏ 3 stars ˎ´˗

Everyone will experience the consequences of his own acts. If his act is right, he'll get good consequences; if they're not, he'll suffer for it. — Harry Brown

Storyline: -`ˏ 5/10 ˎ´˗
A thrilling adventure of a klepto-Robin Hood and friends, saving (and destroying) their village in an attempt to earn money to save a boy's leg.

Characters: -`ˏ 4/10 ˎ´˗
Chaya is a disaster on the loose. Whoever crosses her way seems to face losses. “Who would have thought the villagers would turn against them.” Um, I don't know Chaya there are approximately 20 reasons why they should and that is being generous. They try to create the impression that she was generous and that all her actions were for the greater good. Despite that, it’s more her personality that is questionable. She’s snappy and very self-entitled. Demonstrates no respect for adults, disregarding their warnings and advice. I didn’t like how she belittled Nour, she was put into a situation that went off the rails and still tried to help. I need to applaud Neelan for risking his life, job, and possibly his family in order to protect Chaya. He displays the real signs of bravery, such a wise and caring boy. Nevertheless, Ananda, the elephant holds the title as my favorite character.

Atmosphere: -`ˏ 5/10 ˎ´˗
The portions which took place in the jungle were very lush and detailed. Discussion on the environment, habits of animals, characteristics of plants, and the right thing to do in some situations was a nice added touch.

Language: -`ˏ 6/10 ˎ´˗
The chapters are very short, easy to read in one sitting.

Enjoyment: -`ˏ 3/10 ˎ´˗
The end was disappointing and anti-climatic. What Chaya did at the end was unwarranted and contradict the positive reasoning behind her past actions.

I read this book in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down! The pacing is excellent, the plot is enthralling, and the characters leap off the page and into your heart. Chaya is a fantastic heroine with a wonderful voice. I loved her thieving exploits, and I enjoyed getting to watch her grow as a person as she makes new friends and comes to new conclusions about the world. The friendships are extremely strong, and it was so fun to experience and learn about Sri Lanka through the eyes of this young girl. I definitely recommend diving into this adventurous middle-grade novel!

Thank you Net Galley for an advanced copy. What a thrilling adventure! The combination of strong heroic women and adventure set in India is a wonderful tale. I appreciate that this novel was clean, without expletives, violence, or intimacy. This was an easy read without a lot of foreign language words. The adventure twists wouldn't let me put this book down. While the main character is female, this book would appeal to boys as well. The added Muslim character, their interaction, and friendship was a nice touch. The basic premise of a fair ruler, poverty, and citizen's well-being is a universal theme, and I can't wait to purchase this edition for my school library.

Dnf at 15%
I didn't like the writing and I thought the pacing was off. This just really wasn't for me.

A delightful, cinematic story that reads like a Disney movie set in the jungles of Sri Lanka. Recommended for middle grade and adults alike.