SuitabookThe Great Elephant Chase
Gillian Cross
- Reading
- Read alongside the child if the historical setting or vocabulary slows progress. Pause after major escapes to map who knows what, and discuss the letters separately from Tad’s viewpoint to compare perspective and reliability.
- Themes
- Animal ownership and care: Tad and Cissie travel with Khush while different adults claim or seek control of him; Khush resists cramped travel and appears attached to the young travellers. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Trust, deception and justice: The journey begins amid a staged cure and later involves forged papers, pursuit and competing claims about Khush. The book presents competing or mixed signals about this.
- Gender expectations and self-worth: Cissie is described as more dominant, while Tad is gentler and hesitant; their contrasting strengths help them travel together. The book presents this mainly as information or explanation.
- Worth knowing
- Pay particular attention to coercion and humiliation in Tad’s home, deaths during the journey, repeated pursuit, and the use of a bullhook. The book also includes a staged ‘miracle cure’ and forged ownership papers.