Veda is an elephant, but her traveling circus is closing.
Gio just won the lottery and has bought a pink farmhouse, with acres of land surrounded by a large wall.
Sila is a young girl missing her Mom— who lost her job and has been sent back to Turkey.
They’re all thrown together when Gio buys Veda and wants to share the magic of an elephant with his new friend, Sila. Caring for Veda turns out to be just what Sila needs, to help her manage the longing for her mother.
At school, Sila is placed in a room with an autistic boy named Mateo for the last twenty minutes of each school day, as part of a pilot program for kids that show signs of social isolation. It is awkward for both of them, but Sila and Mateo discover a kinship in respecting and valuing each other’s differences. Mateo becomes a crucial source of support and friendship for Sila.
“I’ve got a five-thousand-pound reason to get up in the morning.”
Gio’s property quickly becomes an animal sanctuary of sorts. There’s a bear, Mr. Pickles—who really eats pickles! And a huge pile of dung that reveals a whole new teeming, thriving ecosystem: larvae and worms galore, which attract all manner of birds. Gio even ships a whole flock of flamingos in from Las Vegas! And of course, there’s the elephant in the room, Veda, who brings all sorts of personality—mowing down whole trees as a snack, digging untapped water holes, and catching watermelons like soccer balls!
Sila’s new bonds with Gio, Veda, and Mateo relieve her angst, open her heart, and ward off loneliness. Even better, the reader gets to experience the world through her eyes. It is a world she sees with patience and kindness, even in the face of longing. (There’s even a lovely chapter where Holly Goldberg Sloan lets readers see the nature preserve from Veda’s perspective.)
“Veda heard it all. It was a symphony to her. It was the call of the wild.”
Veda is actually missing her Mom, too. Thankfully, both Sila and Veda are ultimately reunited with their mothers! Mateo’s mother is a lawyer who manages to sort out the visa paperwork in Turkey; Sila does some intrepid outreach, locates Veda’s mother in Florida, and arranges for her welcome at Gio’s. Here’s how the long-awaited reunion feels for Veda…
“Their trunks wrapped around each other. They both made loud rumbling noises that sounded to Sila like the largest cats in the world purring. They were rubbing up against each other in what seemed to be pure happiness.”
While you read Holly Goldberg Sloan’s The Elephant in the Room, invite your families to share reminisces. Ask your students to create art and discuss meaningful quotations. Challenge them to explore what it means to be an American—and to be human. What’s the elephant in the room? Let your reading community decide.
