An Elephant in the Garden

An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo  199 pp.

This is the first book for the new season of my Treehouse Book Club. It's the story of a family of refugees and their companion, a Canadian airman, from the bombing of Dresden near the end of World War II. What makes this story a bit different is the presence of a friendly elephant, once a resident of the Dresden Zoo, who travels with the family. The mother, a zoo employee, rescues the elephant from certain death when the animals were slotted for death to prevent their escape if the city was bombed. The story is told by the oldest daughter who, as an old woman, becomes a patient in a nursing home. Keeping the secret of the airman's identity while he aids the family in their escape adds tension to the story. Morpurgo, author of War Horse, created this novel after hearing a true story about a zookeeper in Northern Ireland who saved an elephant from the zoo during WWII.

Slaughterhouse Five

Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut  226 pp.

I first read this Vonnegut classic in the 70s while in high school or college, I don't remember which. Over the years I've read it a couple more times. I was enticed to revisit it, this time on audiobook, after visiting the The National World War II Museum in New Orleans where I found this:

The first thing that came to mind on seeing the display were the words, "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time" followed by "Poo-tee-weet!" Vonnegut's story is partly based on his experience as a POW during the bombing of Dresden experienced by Billy, the protagonist. That story is mixed with an intriguing science fiction tale where Billy is kept in a sort of zoo on the planet Tralfamadore to mate with a former porn star for the entertainment of the Tralfamadorans. Only Vonnegut could take such disparate plot lines and merge them to make a whole story. It will always be a favorite of mine.