REVIEW: THE MAGICIAN'S ELEPHANT

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

Candlewick Press 201 pages

Every once in awhile a book comes along and just blows me out of the water.  When I went to Chapters a couple of months ago, I was sitting enjoying a coffee and just browsing the books in the YA section, when I came upon a cut-out promo stand for The Magician's Elephant.  The number one thing that made me pick it up was the cover.  STUNNING.  And then the title, and then I read the blurb inside the cover and immediately bought it.  This little book is one of the most extraordinary I have ever read.  It is heartbreakingly beautiful, and a simple yet powerful story about love and magic and believing anything can happen. 

I cannot sum up the book any better than the inside of the front cover:

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 Peter can hardly dare to believe it.

But it is -- all of it --- true.

This book had me crying actual tears at many points, and when I closed its cover for the last time I felt uplifted beyond measure.  When I held it out to my husband and gushed, his eyes glazed over as they often do until I said, "It's like The Alchemist for kids!"  (which is only true in that it makes you think and it is very parable-like).  To that his eyes lit up and he actually focused his ears on what I was saying.

A beautiful extraordinary tale of love, forgiveness and the power of magic and believing in "What if?". 

For more information about The Magician's Elephant click here.

RATING 5/5