Saving H’Non: Chang and the Elephant
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
In Vietnam, Chang, a keen animal conservationist, finds the sixty-year-old elephant H’Non who has been abused for so long by her owner that she is blind in one eye, her spine is ruined and she is in great pain every day, having now been relegated to giving people rides after a long life of hard manual labour. Chang resolves that she will save H’Non, and battles the odds to give H’Non the life she deserves.
Created by environmental activist Trang Nguyen and award-winning manga artist Jeet Zdung, this is a great story that will delight young animal activists and enthusiasts, based on a true story.
Even with the many wonderful illustrated books out there for children today, it is rare to find something as beautiful as Jeet Zdung’s stunning mix of painterly illustration, notebook sketches and graphic novel entries, all depicting the story of H’Non the elephant. This is the second book from Nguyen and Zdung, and readers who love H’Non’s story should also look for Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear which follows the same format and features Zdung’s amazing illustration – and which won the Carnegie Medal for illustration, too.
