Ash Grimes is only 12 but she knows mammoths inside and out. These huge creatures have been brought back to life through technology and
science using elephant DNA. Her father is known as the Mammoth Rider, as he was part of their return to life, and can actually ride the very first reimagined mammoth named Goliath.
Ash’s mum was known as a mammoth whisperer, and as Ash grew up, she learnt everything she could about these amazing animals. Ash lives on a remote and high security Research Base in the Arctic with her dad. She misses her mum who has passed away, but she remembers her mum’s advice.
Struggling with dyslexia and other learning challenges, Ash hates her schooling – whether it be in the classroom or remotely at the base. It takes her so long to read and understand everything before she even tries to answer the maths problems or writing exercises. But she knows she must do well to be able to work alongside her well respected father, with the mammoths she loves so much.
Her mother’s words and skills come when they’re needed one day on the ice, and Ash inadvertently bonds with a new and very special calf. It is pure white, and has been kept a secret from the outside world, but its existence is out and poachers are after it. Although against the rules, Ash names the calf by the sound it makes, and they get to know each other.
This growing bond is exactly what Ash needs when she and her friends realise that something is not right at an exclusive party at the base – for investors and interested scientists.
Suddenly it’s not only the white calf in danger, but Ash’s father, everyone on the base, and Ash and her friends too. They must work together to outwit a merciless group of trophy hunters while facing a reeling betrayal.
Mammoth Rider is full of action, ice, friendship dynamics, and mighty mammoths raging across the tundra!
Ash is a likeable character, wanting to do the best she can for these creatures that modern technology and science have brought back to life with the help of elephant DNA. She is dealing with the loss of her mum, but falls back on her mum’s mammoth advice again and again within this novel.
Three pre-teens up against the villains makes an exciting story, and their combined talents of mammoth knowledge, general smarts and sheer bravery and confidence, are used to try and prevent a terrible tragedy both for human and mammoth lives.
Lovers of Hannah Gold’s The Last Bear series will love Mammoth Rider. I mean who wouldn’t like a ride on one of these majestic creatures in a mad dash across the ice to save a megaherd of them!
Author – S J Poyton
Age – 9+
(2026, Simon & Schuster Australia, Harper Collins, Mammoth, Elephant DNA, Arctic, Research Base, Science, Albino Calf, Friendship, Danger, Courage, Snow, Animals, Climate Change, Environment, Revenge, Betrayal, Blended Family)