The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo is in the same magical vein as The Tale of Despereaux. Although the book doesn’t start out with the words “Once Upon a Time,” it certainly has that fairy tale feeling with the first line, “At the end of the century before last, in the market square of the city of Baltese, there stood a boy on his head and a coin in his hand.”
The boy, ten-year-old Peter, is an orphan who is being cared for by a cranky old soldier who wants nothing more for him than to train to be a soldier as well. When Peter finds a coin on the street, he visits the tent of a fortune teller. He only has one question. Is the sister whom he has been told died in childbirth alive? The fortune teller’s answer is ambiguous and mysterious: follow the elephant.
An elephant? He’s never even seen an elephant! The answer makes no sense whatsoever. Imagine his surprise when a magician performing at the local opera house mistakenly conjures an elephant which falls through the roof and into the lap of Madam LaVaughn. Now crippled, Madam LaVaughn insists that both the elephant and the magician be locked up right away. Peter knows that the mystery of his sisters existence and the path for a new future lies with the elephant. If he can bring about a chain of events to bring him and the elephant together, perhaps not all hope is lost.
The Magician’s Elephant is a beautiful telling. It’s magical. It’s mysterious. It’s hopeful. It’s also sad in the sense that a cloud of darkness always loomed over the story. DicCamillo’s narrative is stunning. Each word carefully chosen and not a single word in there that wasn’t meant to be. I enjoyed the story and its magical elements although I wasn’t falling head over heels for it – if you know what I mean. I really liked it but didn’t loooove it. Even so, it’s a special book and I recommend it.
I think that this could be hit or miss with young readers to tell you the truth. I could see them either really loving it or either hating it. I do hope that they love it. It’s not often that a book like this comes along. It deserves an audience. But it’s DiCamillo that we’re talking about here. If you haven’t discovered her yet, it’s high time that you do. And this is one not to be missed.
Kate DiCamillo reading the first chapter of The Magician’s Elephant:
Links of interest: Kate DiCamillo website, more book blogger reviews, illustrator Yoko Tanaka website. Maw Book reviews of Because of Winn Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Despereaux, Great Joy,and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Candlewick. September 8, 2009
Hardcover, 208 pages. ISBN 0763644102
The Magician’s Elephant is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Category: Book Reviews, Fiction, Middle Readers
Tags: A-D Author, published 2009, Q-T Title, review copy
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The last DiCamillo I read was The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and that left me with a such a sad, hollow feeling. I’m not sure that I’ll read The Magician’s Elephant, but I like the cover.
on October 15th, 2009 at 12:15 pmI agree that it will be a hit or miss with the kids. But, I sure loved it!
on October 15th, 2009 at 12:24 pmI love this cover.
on October 15th, 2009 at 2:33 pmThis book sounds wonderful, so I hope kids will love it, too.
on October 15th, 2009 at 3:55 pmMy family loved The Tale of Despereaux so I’ve been waiting to see this one reviewed to see if it compared well. It sounds like fun to me. I wonder if it’s on CD.
on October 15th, 2009 at 4:17 pmIt looks beautiful and magical! I really want to read DiCamillo’s books!
on October 15th, 2009 at 8:46 pmI love love LOVE Kate DiCamillo’s work. I haven’t seen this one yet…to the TBR list it goes.
btw…how did I get alllllll the way up there on your top commenters list?!?! Wow!
on October 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pmI just finished this one. I loved it! I just started Skeleton Creek and watched the first “video”. So far, so good.
on October 18th, 2009 at 3:12 pmSounds like a fun “magical” book! Thanks for the review. (I’m interested for me, as my son is still to little. Not sure what I’d think otherwise.)
on October 19th, 2009 at 6:26 pmI don’t know about the kids, but I really liked this.
on October 19th, 2009 at 9:42 pm[...] THE MAGICIAN’S ELEPHANT, by Kate DiCamillo and Yoko Tanaka. An orphan in search of his sister follows a fortuneteller’s mysterious instructions. (Ages 7 and up) [...]
on November 16th, 2009 at 1:37 am[...] The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo [...]
on November 16th, 2009 at 2:56 am