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My Mastodon

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My Mastodon
Written by Barbara Lowell
Illustrated by Antonio Marinoni
Creative Editions, 2020. Picture book.

Sybilla Peale doesn't exactly live a normal childhood. Her house is also home to some really strange artifacts, such as fossils. This is because Sybilla lives in a museum, along with the rest of her family. Sybilla's brother and father go on an expedition to bring the bones of a mastodon to their museum to be assembled, and Sybilla finds a friend in the enormous skeleton. When her brother and father offer the mastodon up for a tour of Europe, Sybilla is heartbroken about being without her best friend while it travels the world. But as Sybilla tries to keep her mastodon at home, she starts to see things from a new perspective. Antonio Marinoni's illustrations evoke the time period that they represent with gentle colors and soft lines, and Barbara Lowell's words share a sweet bond between a girl and a mastodon.
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