Can a baby woolly mammoth be the key to saving the planet from climate disaster?
Hopkinton author Emilie Christie Burack explores this question in her new middle-grade novel “Dominic Bean and the Mammoth Melt.”
Dominic Bean used to be a good kid. But that was before his scientist parents left to work on a secret project in the Arctic and dumped Dom and his sister on their aunt and uncle’s smelly New Hampshire farm. It’s hard to be good when he’s failing seventh grade, hasn’t heard from his parents in ages, and is being tormented by both the school bully and the sharp-horned Highland cow he is forced to take care of.
But the farm turns out to be full of surprises. And when Dom discovers his family’s top-secret mission to create a hybrid woolly mammoth to save the world from climate disaster, he learns he might be in the middle of the biggest adventure of his life.
Laced with humor and cutting-edge climate science, this “Charlotte’s Web” meets “Ice Age” mystery-adventure introduces readers to the peril of our melting Arctic permafrost, the notion that creative solutions are built on taking risks, and that failure is often the most important ingredient of success.
About the author
Emilie Christie Burack lives in rural New Hampshire where she writes novels and picture books for children. Her award-winning debut novel, “The Runaway’s Gold” (Abrams/Amulet), is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection and represented New Hampshire at the National Book Festival. Her new novel, “Dominic Bean and the Mammoth Melt” (Groundwood), will be out in the fall of 2026. Emilie is a frequent visiting author at schools and serves on the board of the Children’s Literacy Foundation. Emilie earned her A.B. at Mount Holyoke College and M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the co-founder and President of the New Hampshire Book Festival, an annual event that brings authors together with readers of all ages to celebrate literacy, conversation and community.
Learn more about her work at https://emiliechristieburack.com.
Hear more from the author:
Concord Insider: Where did your inspiration for this book come from?
Emile Christie Burack: This is a fun question to answer, because my inspiration actually came from reading a David Brooks article in the Monitor! It was about Dartmouth professors trying to carbon-date woolly mammoth bones discovered in 1848 in a bog in Mt. Holly, Vermont. I got chills when I read it – the kind I hadn’t experienced since I was a kid.
Imagine: these incredible creatures once roamed where we now live! And then, as I dug deeper into woolly mammoths, I read about the work currently underway to create hybrid woolly mammoths, and the mind-blowing effort of climate scientists in Northern Siberia that would include these hybrid mammoths. What I didn’t truly appreciate before embarking on this story is the incredible danger rapidly melting Arctic permafrost poses to our climate. (Arctic permafrost holds 1.5 trillion metric tons of carbon – twice as much as is in our atmosphere right now, and it is being released as it melts.)
The idea behind the project in Siberia is super complex, but the basic concept is to curb permafrost melt by “rewilding” Arctic tundra (vast areas of Northern Russia and Canada) with mammals and, potentially, these hybrid woolly mammoths, and thus return the land to its former grassland biome.
CI: What does writing mean to you?
ECB: For me, writing has always been putting words to human emotions and experiences. As long as I can remember, I have created stories in my head. A lot of the process is me exploring in words the things in everyday life I find fascinating, strange, or just plain awesome.
CI: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
ECB: First and foremost, I hope young readers will enjoy the story! I hope it makes them laugh, and they have fun meeting Dom, his buddies, and his four-legged, scene-stealing friends. To me, the joy of reading is losing oneself in another world. I never write for the market, or with a plan to teach. I write about something I find cool or fascinating and hope readers will too. Having said this, one of the many things I loved about writing this book was bringing to light the seemingly overlooked crisis of Earth’s melting Arctic permafrost. I thought a lot about how desperately kids want to help prevent the climate disaster they see unfolding around them, and their frustration at not knowing where to start or what to do. The story delves into the notion that failure is a critical building block to future scientific solutions. I would be incredibly gratified if this story inspires kids to fight to solve the climate challenges, even when the challenges seem overwhelming or unsolvable.
CI: What are your favorite parts and biggest challenges when it comes to the writing process?
ECB: A few years ago I started the New Hampshire Book Festival with my author friend, Sarah McCraw Crow. Ever since, my biggest challenge has been fitting in time for writing. I try to write every morning, but need large swaths of silence to do my best work. One of my favorite parts is researching and outlining. I daydream a lot about how things will go before putting words on a page. Once I start writing, I love to fall deep into the story and let it take me far, far away!
An excerpt from the book
“The noise is coming from that,” she says.
Whatever it is rests on a platform the size of a ping-pong table, and the floor beneath it is covered in fresh sawdust.
There’s a pump at the end of the platform.
“Must be circulating some sort of liquid?”
“So they are making whiskey,” Del says.
Edith wrinkles her brow. “Or a special kind of milk?”
“Only one way to find out.” I grab one end of the tarp. Edith and Del take the other. “One, two, three!”
The tarp hits the floor and Edith gasps. I’m suddenly dizzy, and Del slaps her hand over her mouth.
It’s a tank. A kind of big silicone-like bubble of clear yellowish liquid supported by a thick metal frame.
And there’s something floating inside.
A hairy something.
Like one of the gross specimens preserved in jars high in Mrs. Allen’s closet that she brings down when we talk about gestation and cell reproduction.
Only bigger.
Much, much bigger.