The Magician's Elephant
by Kate DiCamillo
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kate DiCamilloBrand: Baker and Taylor
Illustrator: Yoko Tanaka
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-09-08
ISBN: 0763644102
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Candlewick
Book Reviews of The Magician's Elephant
Book Review: strong 4--quietly magical, good read and read-aloud
Summary: 4 Stars
Kate DiCamillo's new work, The Magician's Elephant, takes a little bit of warming up to early on, but the simple and sometimes poetic prose combined with the fairy tale/fable-like atmosphere and style starts to win the reader over, first charming them then moving them. By the end, which comes quickly since it's more novella than novel, both the prose and emotional impact have deepened and intensified making this a novella well worth reading oneself and to one's children.
The book opens up intriguingly enough, with a young orphan (Peter) having just spent the coin he was given to buy bread or to purchase the answer to a single question from a fortune-teller. The question might have been: is my sister, whom I've been told is dead by the old soldier who now cares for me, really dead? But luckily the fortune-teller spits out the answer before Peter can phrase his question. Instead, he asks how he can find his way to her. The answer is "The Magician's Elephant." A frustrating response in a city that has never seen an elephant, but a few days later a worn-down magician in a flash of frustrated pride, seeks to do some spectacular magic for once and accidentally conjures an elephant that falls through the opera house's roof and crushed a lady's legs. The magician and the elephant are both imprisoned and the tale gently unfolds of how the two come together with Peter, along with a surprisingly large cast of characters for such a slim book: the childless couple who live below Peter, the lady whose legs were crushed, her servant, a stone-carver, and a few others.
The story moves to its semi-predictable plot points as fairy tales and fables usually do--the originality lies in the steps themselves, not where the steps take you. And because this is more fable/fairy-tale than a full narrative, one also doesn't look for depth of character. The characters are sketched out quickly and efficiently, as much forms of sadness as they are characters in their own right, but one is still moved by their thoughts and actions. The very simplicity of the language allows, oftentimes, for the emotion underneath to shine through more clearly in the reader's mind, not bogged down by swirling sentences or overwrought words. Her concision, in other words, often packs a wallop, as when she describes a crowd of spectators: "And secretly within their hearts, even though they knew it could not truly be so, they each expected that the mere sight of the elephant would somehow deliver them, would make their wishes and hopes and desires come true." Simple words and phrasing but such aching need is conveyed.
DiCamillo is more poetic and eloquent in her setting details, but selectively so. The city, the market, other places are barely there as places--fitting the fable style. But she's a master of zooming into details at set moments: describing the fall of snow, for example, vividly and beautifully placing us in a uniquely lyrical moment if not a sharply-defined place. There are many such moments in the work, little prose-poems of delight.
The story can be dark and sorrowful, but this is always leavened by light--the light of hope usually (hope, in fact, I'd say is the driving force of this book and it gives nothing away to say that hope wins out in the end), but also the light of forgiveness, of self-awareness, of empathy and compassion for one's fellow creatures (animals included).
I had only a few minor complaints. One is a somewhat cold response by characters to the lady's legs being crushed--it was not only a bit off-putting from the characters themselves but also took me a bit out of the story as it seemed so unlikely. Another is the handling of Peter's awakening change toward soldiering and warfare, which seemed a bit overly-simplistic (even in a simple work) and a bit forced. Finally, one could perhaps such a large cast in such a slim work dilutes the emotional impact of each character's revelation or change a bit, though I didn't feel that way.
But as mentioned, these are minor complaints. I confess while I liked the very opening of the book, it then took me a few pages in to start to warm up to it. But I was soon pulled under by its spell of simple but lyrical prose and simple but enticing characters and by the end I had been deeply moved several times. It turned into a quietly magical reading experience and one I'd highly recommend. I should also mention that I think it's fine for children to read on their own, but even better--the storytelling voice--the pace and rhythm, the simple language, the occasional authorial intrusions, the book's brevity, all lead me to believe this would be a wonderful read-aloud book. I plan on trying it with my own seven-year-old son.
Summary of The Magician's Elephant
In a highly awaited new novel, Kate DiCamillo conjures a haunting fable about trusting the unexpected ? and making the extraordinary come true.What if? Why not? Could it be?
When a fortuneteller's tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller's mysterious answer (an elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that you will hardly dare to believe it?s true. With atmospheric illustrations by fine artist Yoko Tanaka, here is a dreamlike and captivating tale that could only be narrated by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo. In this timeless fable, she evokes the largest of themes ? hope and belonging, desire and compassion ? with the lightness of a magician?s touch.
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2009: Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo--author of The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane-- has crafted another exquisite novel for young readers. The Magician's Elephant tells the tale of Peter Augustus Duchene, a ten-year-old orphan who receives an unbelievable piece of information from the local fortuneteller. Peter learns that his fate is tied to an elephant that has inexplicably fallen from the sky when a magician's trick goes terribly wrong. Why did it happen? And, how can an elephant possibly change the course of Peter's life? This darkly atmospheric, yet hopeful tale, demonstrates that when the answers to life?s big questions are opaque or unforthcoming, all is not lost. DiCamillo's rhythmic writing, combined with Yoko Tanaka's mysterious black-and-white illustrations, enchants and calls out to our sincerest wishes and dreams (recommended for readers ages 8-13). --Lauren Nemroff
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