Bones in the White House: Thomas Jefferson’s Mammoth by Candice Ransom; illustrated by Jamey Christoph. 2020. Ink drawings and colored digitally. Published by Doubleday Books for Young Readers.

Brief summary: Young readers will learn how Thomas Jefferson, often called the Father of American Paleontology, kept records of the fossils found in Virginia and his discoveries of mammoths(mastodons) fossils. Others shared their finds with him during his presidency of the United States of American when he was also the president of the American Philosophical Society. He kept his interest and curiosity and found out more about the giants that once roamed the earth. In 1801, an entire mammoth was put together causing an increase of people to become interested in learning more about fossils.

Comments: I had no idea that Thomas Jefferson contributed so much to paleontology! A great addition to any elementary library. I think it is beneficial to have books like these showing the interests of famous people that not everyone knows.

Sections in the back: Jefferson in History, Mammoth or Mastodon?, and What Happened to Charles Willson Peale’s “Mammoth”?.