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The Elephant in the Room

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By Holly Goldberg Sloan
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2021.  Fiction. 250 pgs.

Twelve-year-old Sila lives in Oregon with her parents who are immigrants from Turkey.  When her mom leaves on a short trip back to Turkey to work out some issues with her documentation, the trip extends months longer than expected.  The fear this leaves behind deeply affects Sila and her father.  But a new friendship with Mateo, an autistic boy from school, helps fill her time and eases her loneliness.  Then she and her dad have a chance encounter with a man named Gio -- a widower and reluctant lottery winner -- who also joins their unexpected new circle of friends.  Add in the rescue of a beautiful circus elephant named Veda, and you have the makings of the most magical summer Sila could imagine!

I absolutely loved this beautiful story of family bonds and unlikely friendships.  I enjoyed the new take on the family's immigration story, and I particularly appreciated the normalization of Sila's friendship with non-neurotypical Mateo, where his "disabilities" simply become part of who he is to Sila.  This uplifting, funny, heartwarming story is spot on for animal lovers and is one that will stick with readers for quite some time!
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