Tarra & Bella

August 10, 2009
With a conversational narrative and copious photographs, Buckley, cofounder and executive director of Tennessee’s Elephant Sanctuary, spotlights the true-life friendship between an unlikely pair of animals. Following in the footsteps of hippo and tortoise duo Owen and Mzee, Tarra, a retired circus elephant who needed “elephant friends and lots of room to roam,” and Bella, one of the sanctuary’s stray dogs, forge an immediate and strong bond. In one poignant scenario, Tarra stands guard by the ditch where an injured Bella is lying until sanctuary workers locate her, and remains in that spot for two days, waiting for her return. The elephant later stays by the barn where she correctly senses her friend is until a caregiver carries the ailing dog outside. Shots of Tarra petting Bella with her trunk are among the book’s most endearing pictures, which range from snapshotlike to skillfully framed images; also notable are photographs that underscore the dramatic difference in the animals’ sizes. An endnote gives additional information about the sanctuary and its mission. Though the lime-green background on some pages is distracting, the animals’ friendship will inspire young readers. Ages 3–up.

November 1, 2009
Gr 3-5-Unusual friendships occur in the animal worlda racehorse insisting on sharing living quarters with a goat, a cat lovingly raising a litter of bunniesexamples abound, especially on the Internet. But here the relationship is between such disparate critters as a stray dog and an elephant retired from the entertainment industry. No one knows why Bella (the dog) decided to accompany Tarra (the elephant) everywhere, or why Tarra allowed it in the first place (animals at the Elephant Sanctuary are not tolerant of dogs who hang about). Buckley's straightforward text and her empathy-building photos warmly present an indelible image of this unlikely friendship without trying to explain it. It simply is. The book also includes a segment on the history and goals of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, TN. Fans of Isabella and Craig Hatkoff's "Owen & Mzee" (Scholastic, 2006) will eat this up."Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2009
Grades K-1 If you didnt hear this story when it hit the TV and Internet circuits, you saved yourself a box of hankies. Tarra is a resident of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, a natural habitat for needy elephants. As the copious photos and straightforward text explain, many of the elephants pair off into BFFs. Tarra had no such buddy until she mysteriously struck up a friendship with a dog named Bella. They did everything together: walked, played, bathed, ate, and even barked. Cute, but hardly newsworthyuntil Bella hurt her spine. For two days Tarra did not move from the spot where she had alerted people of her injured friend, then she beelined for the barn where Bella was recuperating. Her vigil became the stuff of interspecies legend, and the 12-picture montage of their reunion, with Tarras trunk curling affectionately around the mutt, is indeed something to behold. The photos make good use of the animals disparity in size, and the text doesnt strain itself by trying to make the story unnecessarily earth-shattering. A sweet and sincere offering.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2010
Lonely pachyderm Tarra, a former circus performer living in Tennessee's Elephant Sanctuary, is befriended by Bella, a dog. When their companionship is interrupted by Bella's injury, Tarra becomes extremely solicitous--until Bella heals and the two pals again roam free together. Though the anthropomorphizing is a bit much, the story is heartwarming. Color photographs closely catalog the friendship.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)