Balarama: A Royal Elephant (Adventures Around the World) - Softcover

TED and BETSY LEWIN have been traveling the world together for decades and have chronicled many of their wide-ranging adventures in books for young readers. They both have won numerous awards and honors for their books, including Caldecott Medal Honors, ALA Notables, New York Times Best Illustrated Books, and School Library Journal Best Books. When not teaching, visiting with young fans, or traveling, the Lewins are usually drawing and painting in their Brooklyn, New York, home studios.

Grade 3–6—The Lewins continue their accounts of their worldwide adventures, here with two voyages to southern India. On their first trip, they visited a camp of trained elephants and their handlers in the forest and learned of the royal elephants used for festivals. They met Drona, who was to lead the annual Dasara procession in Mysore in the fall, and they were so enraptured that they decided to return for the festival. Upon their arrival, they learned that Drona had died, and that a new elephant had been chosen to lead the procession. Ted Lewin's brilliant, realistic watercolors capture the sun-drenched pageantry of Mysore as well as the dusty, filtered light of the forest, while Betsy Lewin's lively cartoons aptly depict the action and personalities involved. The story has pathos and tension, and the Lewins' narration takes readers into the forest, to the grounds of the maharaja's pale palace, along the parade route, and eye-to-eye with the majestic animals. Facts about elephants and brief biographies of some of the royal elephants are a welcome addition, and a glossary—with pronunciation help—is provided. If the art doesn't grab chidren, the elephants surely will. Wonderful.—Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD END