How long does it take to read An Elephant in the Garden?
An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo, Simon Reade takes about 3 hours 53 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 53 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2010. 212 pages, about 58,300 words. Written for children.
8 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 6 hours 29 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 53 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 26 minutes |
The page count is the median across 16 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Lizzie and Karl's mother is a zoo keeper; the family has become attached to an orphaned elephant named Marlene, who will be destroyed as a precautionary measure so she and the other animals don't run wild should the zoo be hit by bombs. The family persuades the zoo director to let Marlene stay in their garden instead. When the city is bombed, the family flees with thousands of others, but how can they walk the same route when they have an elephant in tow, and keep themselves safe? Along the way, they meet Peter, a Canadian navigator who risks his own capture to save the family. As Michael Morpurgo writes in an author's note, An Elephant in the Garden is inspired by historical truths, and by his admiration for elephants, "the noblest and wisest and most sensitive of all creatures." Here is a story that brings together an unlikely group of survivors whose faith in kindness and love proves the best weapon of all.
Subjects: World War II, orphaned animals, elephants, juvenile fiction, animal refugees, WWII
