The Magician's Elephant

Synopsis

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.

The Barnes & Noble Review

What kind of children s book can make a grown man cry? This one.

When I asked what made my friend Matt cry, I was told by his wife, Well, it was the part when No, not when, what? Why? Why this story? Well it s about forgiveness, it s about redemption. Wait a minute I thought it was about hope. It is.

If there is a DiCamillo signature style it is that she trusts the reader to find the story, to make their own meaning. She came out of the gate a champion, garnering a Newbery Honor for her first book Because of Winn Dixie. The Tale of Despereaux won the Newbery Medal, the highest award in children s fiction. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was a National Book Award finalist and stirred up quite a controversy in children s literature circles because of its main character, a self-centered china rabbit on a downward spiral.

Children do not need to be convinced of DiCamillo s magic. Each book, from the slapstick humor of the toast-obsessed pig Mercy Watson to the painfully complicated lives of the early adolescents of Tiger Rising, casts a spell.