The Magician's Elephant

by Kate DiCamillo (Author) Yoko Tanaka (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

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.

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ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
From the unexpectedly miraculous feats of a two-bit illusionist to the transformative powers of love, forgiveness, and a good mutton stew, there is much magic afoot in this fable-like tale... The profound and deeply affecting emotions at work in the story are buoyed up by the tale's succinct, lyrical text, gentle touches of humor, and uplifting message of redemption, hope, and the interminable power of asking "what if?"

None

Starred Review
Reading like a fable told long ago, with rich language that begs to be read aloud, this is a magical story about hope and love, loss and home, and of questioning the world versus accepting it as it is.

None

DiCamillo's allegorical novel seems to pack more mass per square inch than average. The plot is fantastical, surreal...And the prose is remarkable, reflecting influences from Kafka to the theater of the absurd to Laurel-and-Hardy humor.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

Gr 4-6 On a perfectly ordinary day, Peter Augustus Duchene goes to the market square of the city of Baltese. Instead of buying the fish and bread that his guardian, Vilna Lutz, has asked him to procure, he uses the coin to pay a fortune-teller to get information about his sister, whom he believes to be dead. He is told that she is alive, and that an elephant will lead him to her. That very night at a performance in the town's opera house, a magician conjures up an elephant (by mistake) that crashes through the roof and cripples the society dame she happens to land on. The lives of the boy, his guardian, and the local policeman, along with the magician and his unfortunate victim, as well as a beggar, his dog, a sculptor, and a nun all intertwine in a series of events triggered by the appearance of the elephant. Miraculous events resolve not only the mystery of the whereabouts of Peter's sister, but also the deeper needs of all of the individuals involved. DiCamillo's carefully crafted prose creates an evocative aura of timelessness for a story that is, in fact, timeless. Tanaka's acrylic artwork is meticulous in detail and aptly matches the tone of the narrative. This is a book that demands to be read aloud.--Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

In DiCamillo's fifth novel, a clairvoyant tells 10-year-old Peter, an orphan living with a brain-addled ex-soldier, that an elephant will lead him to his sister, who the ex-soldier claims died at birth. The fortuneteller's prediction seems cruelly preposterous as there are no pachyderms anywhere near Baltese, a vaguely eastern European city enduring a bitter winter. Then that night at the opera house, a magician of advanced years and failing reputation attempts to conjure a bouquet of lilies but instead produces an elephant that crashes through the ceiling. Peter learns that both magician and beast have been jailed, and upon first glimpse of the imprisoned elephant, Peter realizes that his fate and the elephant's are linked. The mannered prose and Tanaka's delicate, darkly hued paintings give the story a somber and old-fashioned feel. The absurdist elements--street vendors peddle chunks of the now-infamous opera house ceiling with the cry "Possess the plaster of disaster!"--leaven the overall seriousness, and there is a happy if predictable ending for the eccentric cast of anguished characters, each finding something to make them whole. Ages 8-13. (Sept.)

Copyright 2009 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Review quotes

"Kate DiCamillo has a gift, inequitably distributed among writers of all kinds, of eliminating the obvious and still egging on the reader. She writes beautifully but thinks simply. The purity of her prose - the reader goes from paragraph to paragraph delighting in the wonderful simple sentences - only adds to the winsome purity of her vision." —New York Times Book Review 

Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo is the author of The Tale of Despereaux which received the Newbery Medal; Because of Winn-Dixie, which received a Newbery Honor; The Tiger Rising, which was named a National Book Award Finalist; and the Mercy Watson stories.

Bagram Ibatoulline graduated from the State Academic Institute of Arts in Moscow and has illustrated numerous picture books, including The Nightingale and Hana in the Time of Tulips. Born in Russia, he now lives in New Jersey, USA.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780763680886
Lexile Measure
730
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Candlewick Press (MA)
Publication date
December 08, 2015
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV013050 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Orphans & Foster Homes
JUV002080 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Elephants
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Library of Congress categories
Brothers and sisters
Adventure and adventurers
Adventure stories
Orphans
Elephants
Missing children
Fantasy
Minnesota Book Award
Winner 2010 - 2010
Parents Choice Awards (Fall) (2008-Up)
Recommended 2009 - 2009
Massachusetts Children's Book Award
Nominee 2011 - 2012
Colorado Children's Book Award
Nominee 2011 - 2011
Delaware Diamonds Award
Nominee 2013 - 2014
Flicker Tale Children's Book Award
Nominee 2011 - 2011
Kentucky Bluegrass Award
Nominee 2012 - 2012

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