The Magician's Elephant

3.5 stars
This is a sweet story that moved me several times. I listened to the audio version which was beautifully narrated by Juliet Stevenson. It annoyed me that the characters kept repeating themselves for emphasis, and that they all spoke the same way no matter what gender or social class they belonged to, but I think children will forgive this little quirk.

A boy spends the coin he's been given for supper on a fortuneteller. The fortuneteller reveals to the boy that his sister, thought to be dead, is alive and that an elephant will lead the boy to his sister. A magician conjures up his greatest miracle, an elephant. An old soldier tries to pass on his knowledge of war to a disinterested boy. A nun turns away an elephant who comes knocking on her door. A couple longs for a child.

Kate DiCamillo somehow ties all these little tales together to create a beautiful tale of love and redemption.

Magical. Dreamy. Hopeful. Recommended.

I needed a read-aloud book for the kids and although I wasn't entirely pleased with The Tale of Desperaux, I'd heard something good about this from somewhere and decided to give it a shot. The story is simple enough but there are many polysyllabic vocabulary words that I'm sure my nine- and six-year-old wouldn't know. Regardless, they really enjoyed the story. It's basically a boy's quest to find his lost sister. It was nothing earth-shattering but I will say it painted strong pictures in the mind's eye. Both my kids would ask me to read one more chapter when I'd stop reading. We went through this one pretty quickly. Both kids gave it high marks.