What do you get when you combine a sad girl, a boy with autism, a lottery winner, and an elephant? You get a wonderful book about friendship, family, and a tale that will touch the heart.
Sila is missing her mother. She was only supposed to be gone for days, but now it has been months and there's no end in sight. Sila feels she may be the reason her mother had to leave the United States to return to Turkey to deal with questions about her immigration documents. Now it is just Sila and her father trying to make it day to day wondering when she'll be able to return.
When Sila is chosen to participate in a peer helper program at school, she isn't sure exactly what it means and why she was chosen. The last twenty minutes of the day she is supposed to meet with a quiet boy named Mateo. She knows Mateo and knows that he used to be talkative and normal. Now he is a loner and he'd rather have his nose in a book than interact with people. That's what the two do for twenty minutes, read their books silently.
Gio Gardino and his coworkers have been buying lottery tickets for years. Recently, they won the biggest jack pot ever awarded in the state. With his 1/24 winnings Gio bought a farm at the edge of town and even he was surprised the day he used some of his money to purchase an elephant from a defunct circus. Gio and Veda the elephant seem to be meant to be.
Sila becomes acquainted with Gio and his elephant when her father is hired to repair Gio's old pickup truck. Before she knows it, Sila and Mateo are working for Gio and falling in love with the old man, his farm, and especially his elephant.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM by Holly Goldberg Sloan is a beautiful story about how the unexpected can happen and provide needed help when it's least expected. Perfect for upper elementary and middle school, I'm definitely going to be including this in the required reading for my Children's Lit students in the fall.
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