"An unusual and heartfelt account of family love, friendship and the transformative power of wild things"
For Sila Tekin and her father, life is on hold. Sila’s mother had to go back to her homeland of Turkey to sort out a problem with her immigration papers, but that was almost a year ago and she’s still not been able to return. The worry and sadness have had their effect on Sila and her teachers are concerned enough to put her into a special programme, pairing her with another silent child, Mateo. Though the two do become friends, leading to huge, positive changes for them both, that only happens as a result of Sila’s chance meeting with another lonely person, Gio Gardino, recently widowed, more recently recipient of an enormous lottery win, and his spur of the moment decision to buy an elephant. The arrival of Veda, unsurprisingly, transforms everything, even her piles of poo, carefully gathered by Sila and Mateo, turning Gio’s Oregon farm into a kind of Eden. Author Holly Goldberg Sloan manages this larger-than-life scenario beautifully, as Veda brings excitement, love and joy into her characters’ lives, as well as the courage to hope again. It won’t spoil the book to reveal that Sila’s mum is home by the end, but there’s another wonderful, unexpected reunion too. An unusual and heartfelt account of family love, friendship and the transformative power of wild things, this is one of those books that make the world a better place as you read.