Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Elephant Run Haiku”

In the activity, students will create a series of haiku that represent the plot of Elephant Run.

In the novel, Sonji is a haiku master before fighting in World War II with Japan. Create a series of haiku to tell others about the plot of Elephant Run. Use the haiku format of 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the last line. Share your haiku using presentation software such as a slideshow; emphasize the connection between your haiku and the novel’s plot. Consider using one or more of the following topics for your haiku.

• Hannibal the elephant
• Burmese independence
• World War II
• The mahouts
• The teak plantation
• Sonji
• Nick and his family
• Mya’s desire to become a mahout
• Australia
• Japanese invasion
• Hilltop the monk

Teaching Suggestion: Consider using this resource from SuperSummary to aid in instructing students on the format and topics of haiku. You might provide students with a recommended number of haiku to present to the class. Students may be unfamiliar with the formatting of haiku and may benefit from additional instruction on the sparseness of haiku poems.