The first elephants to arrive in America were imported from India and Africa in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Those elephants were paraded up and down the east coast. Their owners charged people to see the elephant, which was such a sought-after experience, even President George Washington considered it worth the price of admission. The story of these elephants, and the young slave who cared for them, is the focus of the new novel in verse by the current Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, Tammi Truax. NHPR's Peter Biello stopped by her home in Eliot, Maine to chat about the book, which is called, For to See the Elephant . Read Tammi Truax’s Top 5 Verse Novel Recommendations 1. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. "It’s just a masterpiece, a beautiful, beautiful book. It’s about a child’s experience of the dust bowl. She (Hesse) has been a big influence on me as a verse novelist." 2. Your Own Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill . "I’ve read all of her books and love