Elephant — J.C. Andrijeski

Didier is an elephant, but he isn't sure if he likes being an elephant all that much, with his big, awkward body and boring life of carrying and lifting things for his human owner, Mr. Rahol. He lives in Mumbai with his mother, who tells fantastic tales about living in the wild before humans captured her and turned her into a domestic animal. Neither she nor the rest of Mr. Rahol's herd of elephants, however understand why Didier would rather be some other kind of animal instead…like maybe even a human. With his friend the filed mouse, Didier goes on a quest to ask all of the other animals which animal it would better to be. But it's not until the time for the festival for the elephant god rolls around in Mumbai once more that Didier knows exactly what it is that he wants to be. (India, elephants, folk tale, fantasy, dark fantasy, travel story, redemption, endangered species)