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| Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived | 
| Author: Ralph Helfer
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $3.49
You Save: $10.46 (75%)
New (39) from $5.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  133 reviews
Sales Rank: 6309
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0060929510
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.320929
EAN: 9780060929510
ASIN: 0060929510
Publication Date: October 1, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Modoc June 15, 2008
Great story! I wasn't sure I really wanted to read this book. I thought about this story many times after having completed the book and am so glad I did read this!
The Greatest Elephant! May 31, 2008
If you love animals, this is a must read. Amazing what this elephant and his best friend went thru. Was able to get right into the story and was engrossed thru the whole book. Wished it had never ended.
VERY VERY GOOD May 1, 2008
I thought this book was one of the best I have read in a long time. If you enjoy stories that touch your heart and have a bit of excitement: This is a must read! Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful.
One of the best books I have ever read April 12, 2008
This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. Someone gave me this book as a gift and I was like, "OK. The True Story of the Greatest Elephant that Ever Lived? Sounds corny." But once I started reading, I could not stop. This book is amazing and is a story of true love and perseverence. I have now given this book as a gift multuple times, as it was originally given to me. This is a must read!!! Move up MOSIE!!!!
 I was enchanted...until I found out...it's probably not true March 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I fell hook, line and sinker for this book. I fell in love with the story, the elephant Modoc, the boy....even the author -- Ralph Helfer -- who becomes a character in his own book as the rescuer of "Modoc."
And as a true story -- I was spellbound. Why, this elephant had more character than most humans I know!
But that was when I thought it was a true story. If I had thought Modoc was a fictional account I would have been less enchanted. It would be a nice tale, but not well written enough to warrant my enchantment.
In doing my own research after the reading I came up with several sites and people who doubt Helfer's veracity. Moreover, I could find only one (audio) interview in which Helfer talks about the book -- but it's not with an interviewer who had ever read it! So no questions were asked about how much truth there was in this literally "fabulous" tale.
I'm afraid I have to say -- after reading people's blogs and comments and noticing discrepancies myself now that I don't think the story is true. I think it's a collage of Modoc stories and pictures (it turns out there were three elephants named Modoc in U.S. circus history.)
Helfer even says in the beginning that he takes truth, hearsay and a dash of some of this and thatand then combines it all to make his story. He even says he stretches the truth -- but we want to believe it so much -- we take it all as gospel.
So my recommend is -- until Helfer has a serious interview about the facts in Modoc -- unlikely since he spends most of his time in Africa -- that you read this book as fiction -- in which case, I'm sad to say, it's okay. Not great. Okay.
And now I know why there was such a commotion about A Million Little Pieces -- James Frey's book. When it's true the reader's heartstrings are tugged in a different way. Really "true" life is still what amazes us most. It makes a difference.
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