Dominic Bean uncovers his family’s secret mission to save the world from climate disaster by returning woolly mammoths to the Canadian Arctic.
At first, twelve-year-old Dominic Bean is not happy when he and his sister are “dumped” with eccentric relatives on a New Hampshire cattle farm while their scientist parents work on a secret project in the Canadian Arctic. Coping with what he sees as parental abandonment, plus the pressure of bullies, schoolwork and wrangling Harriet (a stubborn pregnant Highlander cow with long, sharp horns) bring out the worst in Dom.
But the sleepy farm turns out to be full of surprises. A developer is trying to buy the Bean family land to build an Arctic-themed amusement park under a plastic dome. Dom’s nemesis at school, Edith, turns out to have a way with Harriet. And reading his dad’s old journal leads Dom to an ancient woolly mammoth tusk that his father once found in the farm’s bog.
Dom learns that his jam-making aunt and whiskey-distilling uncle are in fact in cahoots with his parents on a secret project in the old milking barn — a project that, if successful, will “de-extinct” an ancient species and possibly help save the planet.
Key Text Features
Author’s note
biographical information
epigraph
illustrations
journal entries
map
scientific nomenclature
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
Dominic Bean uncovers his family’s secret mission to save the world from climate disaster by returning woolly mammoths to the Canadian Arctic.
At first, twelve-year-old Dominic Bean is not happy when he and his sister are “dumped” with eccentric relatives on a New Hampshire cattle farm while their scientist parents work on a secret project in the Canadian Arctic. Coping with what he sees as parental abandonment, plus the pressure of bullies, schoolwork and wrangling Harriet (a stubborn pregnant Highlander cow with long, sharp horns) bring out the worst in Dom.
But the sleepy farm turns out to be full of surprises. A developer is trying to buy the Bean family land to build an Arctic-themed amusement park under a plastic dome. Dom’s nemesis at school, Edith, turns out to have a way with Harriet. And reading his dad’s old journal leads Dom to an ancient woolly mammoth tusk that his father once found in the farm’s bog.
Dom learns that his jam-making aunt and whiskey-distilling uncle are in fact in cahoots with his parents on a secret project in the old milking barn — a project that, if successful, will “de-extinct” an ancient species and possibly help save the planet.
Key Text Features
Author’s note
biographical information
epigraph
illustrations
journal entries
map
scientific nomenclature
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
| Published By | Groundwood Books Ltd — Sep 1, 2026 |
| Specifications | 288 pages | 5 in x 7.5 in |
| Written By |
EMILIE CHRISTIE BURACK’s debut novel, The Runaway’s Gold, was a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and a winner of the New England Book Festival. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in New Hampshire, where she is the co-founder of the New Hampshire Book Festival. |
| Illustrated by |
ANNA BRON is an illustrator and animation director based in Vancouver, BC. She has worked on Emmy- and Oscar-nominated projects and illustrated award-winning books, including The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice by Amy Alznauer and Salma the Syrian Chef by Danny Ramadan.
|
| Written By |
|
EMILIE CHRISTIE BURACK’s debut novel, The Runaway’s Gold, was a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and a winner of the New England Book Festival. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in New Hampshire, where she is the co-founder of the New Hampshire Book Festival. |
| Illustrated by |
|
ANNA BRON is an illustrator and animation director based in Vancouver, BC. She has worked on Emmy- and Oscar-nominated projects and illustrated award-winning books, including The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice by Amy Alznauer and Salma the Syrian Chef by Danny Ramadan.
|
| Audience | ages 9 to 12 / grades 4 to 7 |
| Key Text Features | Author’s note; biographical information; epigraph; illustrations; journal entries; map; scientific nomenclature |
| Common Core |
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3 |