Rich with atmos­phere and his­to­ry, this beau­ti­ful sto­ry, set in Ran­goon, Bur­ma, tells the tale of Rachel, who is excit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in the Purim fes­ti­val held annu­al­ly in her town. She is hop­ing to be the lucky child who wins the spe­cial Purim crown. Rachel and her cousin, Raz, dressed in their Purim fin­ery, are ready ear­ly and decide that they have time to take an ele­phant ride. At first, Rachel is thrilled to ride the huge, majes­tic ele­phant, and feels a bit like Queen Esther. Soon, how­ev­er, she notices that the ele­phant, although rich­ly draped, has not been cared for prop­er­ly and is in poor con­di­tion. She remem­bers the lessons she has learned about respect for ani­mals and feels a sense of unease about this ele­phant and its suffering.

Rachel and Raz pro­ceed to the fes­ti­val with its array of fab­u­lous food and, thrilling­ly, Rachel’s name is drawn for the hon­or of wear­ing the bejew­eled Purim crown. She decides that instead of keep­ing this spe­cial memen­to, it can be used for a more impor­tant pur­pose. She offers to trade the pre­cious crown to the elephant’s keep­er for own­er­ship of the mag­nif­i­cent beast whose lot in life can now be improved. The own­er under­stands the mes­sage and refus­es the crown but, real­iz­ing the ele­phant deserves rest and a com­fort­able envi­ron­ment, trans­fers it to Rachel, know­ing it will receive bet­ter care. Rachel names the ele­phant Esther in hon­or of the Purim hero­ine and donates the ele­phant and the crown to an ele­phant sanc­tu­ary, plan­ning to res­cue oth­er mis­treat­ed ele­phants, as well.

An author’s note explains more about the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty of Bur­ma, which last­ed from the 1800s to the 1960s before being dis­persed. She notes that the sto­ry is based on her grandmother’s child­hood. It is accom­pa­nied by lush, evoca­tive illus­tra­tions, black-and-white fam­i­ly pho­tographs, and a glossary.