Jumbo: The Greatest Elephant in the World - Softcover

Paul Chambers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0233002693 ISBN 13: 9780233002699

Publisher: Andr Deutsch, 2009

Synopsis

Hard to find

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Chambers is a writer and TV producer, whose previous titles include A Sheltered Life, a history of the giant tortoise, Bones of Contention and The Cock Lane Ghost. He lives in Hertfordshire.

From School Library Journal:

Adult/High School—Jumbo, an African elephant captured in 1862, endured a grueling journey to Europe, where he was housed in zoos in Paris and London. He was finally shipped to America to become part of Barnum & Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth." Chambers has meticulously researched elephants in captivity during the Victorian era to tell the fascinating story of Jumbo's life and the eccentric humans who were part of it. Two such individuals were Matthew Scott, the keeper who spent 20 years by the animal's side, and the famously flamboyant Phineas Taylor Barnum. The showman purchased Jumbo from the London Zoo in 1882, during the height of the "Jumbo craze," and through his own deceptively clever marketing created a similar craze in America. Jumbo became victim to the Barnum & Bailey curse in 1885: one night while traveling on supposedly unoccupied railroad tracks, a locomotive struck him and the other elephants, and he died at the scene. Chambers asks readers to consider ethics and cruelty to animals in captivity; while activist groups existed in the late 1800s, zoological societies did not necessarily attend to their concerns. Jumbo was not only the inspiration for Helen Aberson's 1939 children's story Dumbo, but his name was also the first known use of the word "jumbo." While this title may not initially appeal to teens, booktalking and handselling it will prove rewarding to even the most reluctant readers.—Jennifer Waters, Red Deer Public Library, Alberta, Canada
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About this edition

• Publisher: Andr Deutsch
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0233002693
• ISBN 13: 9780233002699
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232