Reviewed by Susan Hancy
Paru is a delightfully
illustrated narrative non-fiction book that tells the story of a baby elephant, much loved by her mother and aunt, who tumbles into a deep pit and cannot
escape. Her mother and aunt trumpet for help and do their best to reach her, but after two days, they must abandon their baby to avoid losing their herd. The
pit had been dug by local tribesmen in the heart of dense Keralan jungle in
southern India with the intention of snaring a wild boar or deer for food.
Wanting to help the baby elephant, the tribesmen walk to a nearby coffee estate
to seek help from the family running the estate.
From the first turn of the cover, Paru's endpapers hint at a personal experience with this story. The family running the coffee
estate is actually the author’s family, and the author, Wendy Lawrence, is the
little blond girl in the photos riding the baby elephant, Paru, after they successfully freed her and restored her health.
The language and settings in this book transport the
reader to a very non-mainstream life experienced in 1951 on a rural Indian
coffee estate, where elephants played a working role, much like horses or bulls
may be used on a farm today, and where a little girl’s best friend and guest of
honour at tea parties was not a dog or a cat but a baby elephant. Wendy’s
narrative captures the reader’s heart, and with her parting words, she left my heart much like Paru’s in the end: broken, but a happy sort of broken, marvelling
at the impact this family must have had on Paru and at the impact Paru had
on them. This story will resonate with any family that has pets, and with the life lesson that, at times, tough decisions must be made
regarding our four-legged companions. The final fact-filled pages will pique
the interest of young readers eager to learn more about Indian
elephants and their conservation. I recommend this book for readers aged 5-8, and it’s available to purchase through Wendy’s self-publishing website.
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