elephant
Mogul and Me


     Based on a true story from the 1830s, Mogul and Me is a dramatic, suspenseful historical fiction novel for children aged 9 to 13. The story of a New Brunswick farm boy, his pa, an elephant, a circus lady, a ship, a fire, and a spiteful man with a gun, Mogul and Me is also a story of good and evil, love and trust, the whole wide world and home.
Sometimes readers ask questions about the ending of Mogul and Me:
  • What happens to Selena?
  • What happens to Mr. Kehoe?
  • What happens to Mogul?
  • What happens to the boy and his pa?

I often suggest that students write and illustrate their own Chapter 27 to answer some of these questions--the same questions writers ask themselves. For a few student-written and illustrated Chapter 27's, click here:

STUDENT-WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED CHAPTER 27'Sstudent stories


     The first time I saw my elephant, he was nothing but a picture on a poster on a tree.
     My father and I were cutting wood at the back of our farm, by the road that winds through the forest up along the river on its way to Saint John, New Brunswick, here in British North America.
     . . . It seems to me now, that on that sunny, cool October day of 1836, time and my life were plodding along like my horse—not waiting for or expecting anything out of the ordinary. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that something magic would come into my life that day and turn my living right around.

     " a book I could not put down. (Despite a personal determination to read children's books by day and 'adult' books in the evenings, I broke the rule without a blink to finish Mogul and Me.) I predict any red-blooded 8- to 12-year-old will feel the same delicious compulsion to read on to the end, if necessary by flashlight under the covers" (Arlene Pearly Rae, Toronto Star).

     "This historical fiction is the type of story one could use to read to an elementary Junior class and hook almost everyone. If one chose to read only a chapter per day one might even create a small riot, for there are some very tense moments for the main characters." (Hugh A. Cook, Canadian Materials)

     "Cumming convincingly describes the tedious, grinding life his 11-year-old narrator leads as a farm boy. . . . He conveys even to the over-stimulated modern reader, jaundiced by ever-greater advertising hyperbole, thethrill of seeing a real live travelling circus. . . The riveting story becomes a clear struggle between good and evil, with honor and heroism winning the day." (Elizabeth MacCallum, The Globe and Mail)
Ragweed Press
ISBN 0-920304-82-6                $8.95