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Will recommend this book for all ages Sep 8, 2009 (88 of 95 found this helpful)
The Magician's Elephant is parable/allegory/fable/fairytale and modern kid lit extraordinaire. The tale is somber and atmospheric but the overall feel of the story is one of hope. The characters are quirky and magic lingers on every page. More a novella, it is a quick read of a few hours even for a young reader. I don't recommend putting it off but this is one of those books to be pulled out on a snowy night in front of the fire to be read out loud with your family.
I won't detail the events as the jacket flap and other reviewers are sure to do it but I will say that if you are a fan of DiCamillo's there is no way you should pass up this book. This will seem impossible to you (as it does to me) but her writing is getting even better and with this story I think we may be seeing the beginning of a transcendence to the creation of a storyteller easily in league with Aesop, the Brothers Grimm and Frank L. Baum. I am aware that sounds sycophantic - trust me I am not. In fact, I would really like to hate her for writing so well, as an aspiring writer myself, but there is no denying the quality of this story.
There is a very visual and cinematic quality to the writing that keeps the reader engaged. It is difficult to stop thinking about Peter, Adele, the elephant, the magician, and all the others just because the book is closed.
I sincerely hope adults will pick this book up as well - especially those who have already discovered the pleasures of good children's literature.
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Magical, magical, magical. Sep 14, 2009 (40 of 42 found this helpful)
At age 60 some might say that I'm far too old to be a fan of Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant. Wouldn't that be a shame? I became a fan of DiCamillo's when I read The Tale of Despereaux and later the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Whatever lessons are intended for the young are not lost on those of us that are a generation or two further along in our visit on the planet.
Kate DiCamillo's stories are charming, well thought out and always provide interesting characters to carry the tale forward. Engaging is a word most applicable when discussing The Magicians Elephant. Is there anything more important for a storyteller?
Like the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Magician's Elephant is an odyssey involving a string of characters each providing to the story in some small manner. Besides spinning an interesting tale, characterization is DiCamillo's best talent.
In the Magician's Elephant the main character, Peter, has been told that his sister Adele is dead. Wanting desperately to believe Adele isn't dead Peter wanders into the tent of a fortuneteller. Given one question to ask (he actually gets two) Peter is given to believe that his sister is still alive and he is told that an elephant will lead him to her. At this point the reader is hooked.
Will Peter find Adele? Read the book and see. Like so many of life's journeys it isn't the destination but the trip that matters.
I have a granddaughter who is five. I'm torn about reading this story to her or waiting for her to grow and let her discover these stories on her own. I think I'll opt to read The Magician's Elephant to her. That will be two gifts, one for her and one for me.
I can't recommend The Magician's Elephant more strongly.
Peace always.
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The Magician's Elephant Sep 8, 2009 (35 of 37 found this helpful)
The bizarre - an elephant magically falling through the roof of a packed opera house - meshes with the dreamingly poignent - an orphaned brother and sister's wish to be reunited -- in a tenderhearted tale that celebrates the connections between us and the courage it takes to follow dreams. Newbery Medal-winning author Kate DiCamillo succeeds once again with "The Magician's Elephant," a story about a magician who one winter evening brings an elephant crashing down onto his audience. On that same evening in the same city, a fortune teller informs a boy that an elephant will appear and lead him to his presumed-dead sister. A begger and his a blind dog, a noblewoman crippled by the falling elephant, a nun who oversees the local orphanage, a policeman and his wife who have no children of their own, a crippled former stonecutter hired to scoop elephant poop, the elephant, the boy Peter and his sister Adele form an ensemble cast who confront life's deepest questions in their nighttime dreams, and who, each in their own small way, contribute to the tale's simple yet miraculous conclusion. Each mired in their own difficult circumstances, the characters don't have much reason to believe that life will change. But one by one they allow themselves to ask "what if?" What if they took a chance, what if they believed that change was possible, what if they were capable of making it happen? When that mindset takes hold, amazing things occur. The black and white illustrations bolster the story's wintry feel, as characters wish for snow as they suffer through gray, laden skies and bitter cold. The perfect illustrative accompaniment to a story about daring to move after long standing still. The Magician's Elephant
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A Sweet Lullaby of a Story Sep 11, 2009 (25 of 27 found this helpful)
Kate DiCamillo's claim to fame is the Newbery award winning story The Tale of the Despereaux, recently turned into a film. She delights in the worlds of make believe; of heroism and fantasy; of childhood hopes and dreams; of gentle despair and life longing. It's her forte, and it shows up no better in this charming lullaby of a story "The Magician's Elephant".
The book is a clever chain of characters, introduced in such a way that the beauty and design of the story isn't revealed fully until the remaining few pages. This book keeps you guessing. Peter, an orphan being raised by a slightly crazed veteran, is sent to market to purchase food. Only, he sees a fortuneteller tent and decides to learn his future instead. The woman reveals that his long lost sister is truly alive, and that, most wonderfully oddly, an elephant will lead him to her. Peter leaves flabbergasted at the news. A magician, performing in the town one evening, conjures an elephant in the air, which comes crashing down on one wealthy patron, paralyzing her. The regretful magician is immediately jailed, and the town is left to deal with this conjured elephant. Therein starts a chain of unbelievable, fantastic events that connect the dots of his life.
DiCamillo has mastered the art of storytelling. In any lesser hands, this fantastic tale would be an out of control wreck of a story. She worked hard to make this a simpler story; it's not the length of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which makes this story even stronger. She deals with classic fairy tale elements, in a story that's not quite a fairy tale. As a teacher, I would love for my students, after having read and studied classic fairy tale structure, to read this book to find elements of that structure.
The book portends, almost enchantingly, the idea that everyone belongs, that everyone plays a special role in a town, in society. It's a musical interpretation of the game "telephone", only no one is there to mess up the message, and everyone is there to make sure the message is communicated perfectly. The end, which shall not be revealed here, is more sweet and lovely than I predicted it could end. In fact, for some reason, I saw this book as a musical more than a movie; yes, it would be a wonderful musical for children.
At any rate, I highly recommend "The Magician's Elephant". It's short, quiet. It would make a terrific read aloud at the elementary level, or one at home, on a winter's night. It's a snuggly, beautiful tale.
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Impossible, it seems, is not Impossible. Sep 16, 2009 (9 of 9 found this helpful)
Peter Augustus Duchene does not wake up each day expecting his life to change. See, he is an orphan in the city of Baltese, his guardian Vilna Lutz is a crazy old codger of a soldier, and his life is anything but extraordinary. The only thing he hopes for is to one day grow up to be a brave and strong soldier like his father long ago. This is why he slaves away in hopeless obedience to his guardian, and this is why he happens to find himself standing in the market with a single florit coin in his hand, in front of a fortuneteller's tent.
A sign on the door reads: The most profound and difficult questions that could possibly be posed by the human mind or heart will be answered within for the price of one florit.
So Peter spends his boss's money and asks the questions that his heart has been dying for years to ask: Does his sister still live? And if she lives, then how can he make his way there to where she is? The answer is nothing he could have ever expected. "You must follow the elephant," the fortuneteller says.
Peter does not understand. He has never seen an elephant. He does not know where to find one. Baltese in the winter is no place for an elephant. But he has grown up thinking his sister was born dead, and this is the only clue he has ever had. What if his guardian has been not been telling the truth? Such a thought has never come to Peter, yet recent dreams have brought back strange childhood memories that have caused him to doubt his guardian and all he has grown up believing.
Meanwhile, across the wintry rooftops of the city, an old magician readies himself in the opera house for a very good illusion. "Magic is impossible," says the magician. "It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it is magic." His intension is to have a bouquet of lilies fall from the ceiling into the arms of a high class woman. This is what he wants. This will be his great and final show. The Baltese people do not expect anything special anymore. They have worn themselves out expecting something special. So it is not surprising that both the expectant crowd and the magician alike are stunned to watch a life-size elephant thunder through the ceiling and crush a woman's legs. What, after all, are they supposed to do with something so impossible as that?
And what will that mean for our little orphan soldier?
From the author who gave readers Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and Great Joy! comes a tale of magic, courage, manhood, hope, and light that lives up to everything we have grown to expect and love from Kate DiCamillo. The Magician's Elephant is the story of a boy and an elephant and the things that could happen if the world would only just believe. It is as true as it could possibly be. So come closer, dear readers, she is going to tell you a story.
--- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens
--- First published with TeenReads