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Helping Animals & Changing Habitats
Maggie: Alaska's Last Elephant
Elephants are social animals. Maggie and Annabelle used to live together at the Alaska Zoo. But after Annabelle died, Maggie was all alone. For years, zookeepers tried to keep her happy (and warm). But ultimately they sent Maggie to live at a sanctuary (PAWS). Now she is happy and at home with her new herd of other elephants. This is a heartwarming story of how zoos ensure the best for the animals in their care—even if the best is not at their zoo.
32 pages, Hardcover
Published February 10, 2018
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 17, 2018
Young readers' hearts will be broken as they read about how two elephants in Alaska kept each other company, but then after the older one, Annabelle, died, the younger elephant, Maggie was lonely and bored and took to playing with and carrying a tire around with her. Eventually, an animal sanctuary in California offered to take in Maggie, and she was trained to enter a crate in which she would need to stand for the entire flight to her new home. Since Maggie weighed over 8,000 pounds, the relocation effort was enormous and expensive. Eventually, though, she arrived home, and after being given time to adapt, she was introduced to her new family and friends and her new environment. Young readers will be delighted at the happy ending to this story and relish in the details about how the animals are kept amused. The colorful illustrations show how Maggie's life has changed. Four pages of activities include information about elephant herds and zoos and a Q and A with Maggie's keeper, Michelle Harvey, who notes that Maggie eats an amazing 250 pounds of food every day. Wow! That's a lot of calories! This would be a great addition to a classroom science library since readers will surely finish the book filled with compassion for lonely Maggie as well as an appreciation for the social nature of elephants and respect and gratitude to the individuals who made her move to a warmer climate possible.
August 28, 2018
Maggie: Alaska’s Last Elephant by Jennifer Keats Curtis relates this true story for ages 4-9 in this narrative nonfiction story that is rich with sensory imagery.
Beginning with Maggie’s arrival at the Alaska Zoo as a baby, the story focuses on her life following the loss of her friend, Annabelle, an Asian elephant. With Maggie’s only companion gone, she adopts a tire for company. Despite the zoo keepers’ best efforts, loneliness and the pervasive cold eventually take a toll and her health declines.
Fortunately, the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in California already had two groups of elephants and were ready and willing to give this lonesome elephant a new home. How do you move and 8,000-pound animal? Slowly and carefully as it turns out and with a lot of help.
Young readers will enjoy discovering important information about elephants, and the remarkable details of Maggie’s rescue in this child-friendly and beautifully illustrated text.
Curtis does an excellent job of describing the sequence of events that result in Maggie finding a happy new life with her own special friends. And there are plenty of elephant-related facts to absorb along the way.
The book concludes with a section titled: For Creative Minds, which provides additional reading on Elephant Herds, Zoos, and A Question and Answer section with Maggie’s keeper Michelle Harvey.
A 30-page cross curricular Teaching Activity Guide is available online. The book is also available in Spanish.
Beginning with Maggie’s arrival at the Alaska Zoo as a baby, the story focuses on her life following the loss of her friend, Annabelle, an Asian elephant. With Maggie’s only companion gone, she adopts a tire for company. Despite the zoo keepers’ best efforts, loneliness and the pervasive cold eventually take a toll and her health declines.
Fortunately, the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in California already had two groups of elephants and were ready and willing to give this lonesome elephant a new home. How do you move and 8,000-pound animal? Slowly and carefully as it turns out and with a lot of help.
Young readers will enjoy discovering important information about elephants, and the remarkable details of Maggie’s rescue in this child-friendly and beautifully illustrated text.
Curtis does an excellent job of describing the sequence of events that result in Maggie finding a happy new life with her own special friends. And there are plenty of elephant-related facts to absorb along the way.
The book concludes with a section titled: For Creative Minds, which provides additional reading on Elephant Herds, Zoos, and A Question and Answer section with Maggie’s keeper Michelle Harvey.
A 30-page cross curricular Teaching Activity Guide is available online. The book is also available in Spanish.
March 18, 2018
This is a beautiful informational story filled with rich, descriptive language that could be used not only in science to learn information about elephants and zoos, but could also be used during writing workshop too. The text is filled with rich sentences that use beautiful sensory details. A great model for young student writers. The story of Maggie, the elephant, tugs on your heart strings and provides perspective to students when thinking about how society and nature interest and the impact they have on one another. Readers love a happy ending, and Maggie’s is certainly happy…but Jennifer leaves the reader with not only a happy ending, but information about elephants and zoos where elephants are kept. A great text to be used for so many instructional lessons. Maggie Alaska’s Last Elephant is a must read.
October 13, 2020
This is a wonderful book about Maggie, the last elephant in Alaska. It spoke on information about elephants and the care that they need, and in order for Maggie to be properly cared for she needed to be moved to another location. At this location she was able to become healthier and have companions to spend her time with. This is a wonderful book about Maggie's live and the care that elephants need to live a healthy life.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews