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The Girl Who Stole an Elephant

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The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook

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By Nizrana Farook

avg rating

174 reviews

A thrilling debut, rich in the joyous adventure of friendship, flight and righting wrongs. The first of four stories in an electrifying jungle adventure series!

Longlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards and the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize, 2021. Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month for January 2020.

THIEF. REBEL. BANDIT. HERO?

Chaya, a no-nonsense, outspoken hero, leads her friends and a gorgeous elephant on a noisy, fraught, joyous adventure through the Sri Lankan jungle where revolution is stirring and leeches lurk.

Will stealing the queen’s jewels be the beginning or the end of everything for the intrepid gang? Can Chaya leave village a thief but return a hero?

Have you read these exhilarating escapades in the series?

The Boy Who Met a Whale

The Girl Who Lost a Leopard

The Boy Who Saved a Bear

""Farook embeds her message in a cracking narrative … the pace rarely slackens … a deceptively dense adventure that will appeal to readers well into their teens."" – Emily Bearn, Telegraph

""Atmospheric, full of colour and passion, Farook is a writer to watch."" – Daily Mail

""Positively rustles with the textures of rural Sri Lanka … an author keen to write a love letter to her culture, and upend preconceptions."" – Observer

""As rich, dazzling and alluring as a pouchful of royal jewels, and as triumphant as a trumpeting elephant!"" – Sophie Anderson, author of The House with Chicken Legs

""Chaya, schoolgirl by day, thief by night, will steal your heart in this incredibly assured debut"" – Aisha Bushby, author of A Pocketful of Stars

""A beautifully paced story of friendship and revolution."" – i

Reviews

13 Dec 2024

I really enjoyed it because I liked that the elephant was called Ananda.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone.

13 Dec 2024

really good book. couldn't put it down

05 Sep 2024

I really enjoyed this book as it had a lot of drama and action in it. I would recommend it to family and friends!

02 Sep 2024

I loved this book because I found it very interesting to know how Chaya sneaked in the palace and stole the queens jewels. I found it extremely exiting to read when Chaya released all the prisoners and ran away from the kings guards.

01 Sep 2024

This book is a very good book and is all about changing what the girl did to something right The Girl Who Stole An Elephant is also a very good book because it has a very big sense of determination and adventure. I really liked this book and recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure.

31 Aug 2024

a fun-filled quest adventure

29 Aug 2024

A girl who has a big debt to pay off... The question is will she pay it the easy way? Leaves as a troublemaker. Come back as a hero?

19 Aug 2024

The book is a tale about a girl who steals from the rich and the Royals to help those in desperately in need. Right after the main character Chaya steals the Queen's jewels, she has to flee her village on the back of a stolen elephant with her two friends to safety.

13 Feb 2024

A great action packed that has you wondering

29 Nov 2023

i kind of like the book but dont cause she steals things but through the book things got better. The rescue was incredible and i liked it when the elephant showered itself with water and made Chaya, Neel and Nour scream, when Chaya got saved by Anada the elephant and when the children stood up to the king and got rid of him.

06 Oct 2023

This book was kinda good I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s basically about a girl who went to the rainforest and she went off track and found a wild elephant she wanted two keep it but she got caught buy a guard. So she got taken away and got asked questions. My favourite character was Chaya well the main character because she made all the fun things to do. This is a fiction book but all my other books have been fiction books but I have put them as nonfiction so yeah. Over all this book mite not be for me but it’s probably for someone else.

25 Aug 2023

Packed full of adventure an amazing book I also recommend the other books by Nizrana Farook the boy who met a whale and the girl who lost a leopard.

21 Aug 2023

I liked this book because Chaya, the main character, was a thief but only for good reasons and she survives, against the odds, when the King’s men are after her. She’s a very relatable person because she isn’t perfect. For example, she can be stubborn and short-tempered. However, her resilience in the face of adversity and relentless optimism allowed her and her friends to survive.

18 Aug 2023

Amazing.

13 Aug 2023

A misunderstood schoolgirl by day, thief by night, doing her best to make things right.

07 Aug 2023

Loved the book definitely read again. Showed that people deserve a second chance even if they’ve done you wrong you have to be forgiving or else you will be upset with yourself and others.

07 Aug 2023

I like this book because it shows a thief can sometimes be a hero.

06 Aug 2023

This story is non-fiction liked Neel. Because the king had to be stopped and Chaya and her friends did that . I would recommend because is fascinating how she stopped the king.

31 Jul 2023

I thought it was great because, it had a huge plot twist and was just a fabulously written book.

30 Jul 2023

I liked this book because it was full of adventure.

29 Jul 2023

I enjoyed reading this book and was glad there was a happy ending! I really enjoyed reading about their escape through the jungle.

28 Jul 2023

It wasn't as great as I thought it would be. However I enjoyed the hardships that the main character faced and how she managed to overcome them, but I always thought that the ending was extremely rushed and not planned out properly.

23 Jul 2023

I like Nour because she pushed on and carried on even though she didn’t like the jungle and stealing. She was also kind .
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure.

18 Jul 2023

My favourite character was Nouri I would recommend it , it is about a girl who stole the queens jewels and stole an elephant she hated Nour at the start but now they are best friends

15 Jul 2023

Great book about adventure and heroic acts( ok maybe just 2…) I would definitely recommend it

15 Jul 2023

The book was factual and it interests me because it is a lot similar to my religion. I also like the book because the book is all about friendship and teamwork. If you are feeling a bit sad then this is what you need!

13 Jul 2023

I liked this book because the main character was caring and rescued her friend when he was in jail. I would recommend it to anyone. Girls would like it because the main character is a girl and boys would like it because some boys like the jungle.

12 Jun 2023

exiting to read

05 Oct 2022

It’s a very nice book

27 Sep 2022

I loved this book and if you like action books then I think you would like this book a lot. It is about a girl who steals the Queen's jewels and then steals the king's elephant to get away!

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