The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

I have to admit that as my daughters get older, I try to impose my reading wish lists on them. Sometimes it’s a chore, but other times I only have to make the suggestion and they are right on board. Any book by Kate DiCamillo is an easy sell.

We have had The Magician’s Elephant sitting on the shelf since Christmas, and I was eager to read it. (Partly because the “grown-up” books I am reading are somehow not as alluring as this right now.) I wasn’t sure if it would be too dark for them (6 and 8), because the cover looked a little ominous. But I trust Kate DiCamillo as if she’s a close personal friend. Surely anyone who gave us Edward Tulane and Mercy Watson will not scare my little girls! I did not even feel the urge to read ahead, just in case.

The story is simple, and even a little predictable, but it is wonderful. Reading it aloud is even better. Her language is so beautiful, the characters are so real, and even their names are fun to say. DiCamillo has an amazing gift for making even the most despicable characters sympathetic. She is also able, in a relatively short amount of time, to introduce a large cast of unique and complicated people. My girls began to recite lines each night they knew certain characters would say (“I intended only lilies”); and we decided this is the perfect answer for whenever you get caught doing something wrong.

Peter Augustus Duchene lives in the attic apartment of Vilna Lutz, an aging war veteran who took him in after his father was killed in action, and his mother died giving birth to his sister. Lutz has been raising the pint-sized soldier alone, and he is doing the best he can, which is to say, not much. A fortuneteller comes to the small city of Baltese, and Peter knows she will answer one question only, so he must be careful what he asks. “Does my sister live?” Vilna Lutz has told him she was stillborn, but Peter’s memories are becoming more persistent, and he is coming to an age where he does not believe everything Vilna Lutz tells him anymore.

The fortuneteller’s answer startles him, despite how prepared he thought he was for it. “An elephant will lead you to her.” In Baltese! A city of people who have never even seen an elephant! But Peter does not hear any of that, only this: she LIVES! And he will find her.

I don’t think I have ever read such a joy-filled story to my children. At the end, they laughed aloud at the wonder and beauty and perfection of it all, and, of course, I cried. “She lives” – two simple words that set in motion one boy’s search that will change the lives of everyone he meets along the way.