Module 8: The magician's elephant

Book cover image: 

Taken from Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc, n.d)

Genre:

The magician’s elephant is listed as fantasy for upper elementary and middle school readers, which is very fitting for a story that features an elephant falling through the opera house ceiling after being summoned by the magician.  This event certainly defies all natural and physical laws of this world which defines the fantasy genre. 

Book Summary:

This magical story follows a young orphan, Peter Augustus Duchene who is living with Vilna Lutz, who served as a soldier with Peter’s dad.  Peter has a longing in his heart to find his baby sister, Adele, who according to Vilna died at birth.  Peter has doubts about her death and reaches out to a fortune teller who confirms to him that his sister is alive.  The only part that doesn’t make sense to Peter is that the fortune teller tells him that he must follow the elephant to find her.  This is when the magic begins! An older magician, performing at the Bliffendorf Opera House plans to conjure up a bouquet of lilies, but ends up conjuring up an elephant that falls through the roof and lands on Madam LaVaughn, crushing her legs.  The magician lands in prison, and Peter sets out on a quest to visit the elephant and figure out how the elephant will lead him to his sister. 

APA Reference of Book:  

DiCamillo, K. (2009). The magician's elephant. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

Impressions:

DiCamillo’s writing brings about feelings of love, hope, and a desire to belong even after a loss. This book was a fairly easy read, but one that was thoroughly enjoyable even for a more mature reader.  Despite the story being completely magical, the emotions and characters are very realistic. The book is only 200 pages, but thanks to DiCamillo’s exquisite writing, she is able to give emotion and personality to all of the characters, not just Peter who is the main character. She captured the sadness of Vilna Lutz, the love and longing in the hearts of Leo and Gloria Matienne, the compassion of Sister Marie, the innocence of Adele, and even the unique personality of the singing beggar, Tomas.  I think my favorite part of this book is that the author is able to give hope to the reader in a world that sometimes feels like all hope may be lost. She captured the innocence of children and their desire to simply belong and know that they have someone waiting for them who loves them and she does that all without wasting even a single word. There are a lot of  ‘what ifs’ and ‘but how’s’ asked in the book, which should be expected in a book that enters into the magical world of elephants falling through roofs, but the biggest question of all is asked in chapter 3 and sets the tone for the entire story. “What was it like, Peter wondered, to have someone who knew you would always return and who welcomed you with open arms?” (DiCamillo, 2009, pp. 40-41).  By the end of the story, both Peter and Adele find that with Leo and Gloria Matienne and occasionally the beggar, Tomas and his dog Iddo.

Professional Review:

School Library Journal review from Book Verdict, Reviewed on August 1, 2009

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."

Review written by Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO" Copyright 2009 Media Source Inc.

APA Reference of Professional Review:

Media Source Book Verdict. (2009, August 1). The magician's elephant. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from Book Verdict: http://bookverdict.com/details.xqy?uri=Product-6056171.xml 

Library Uses:

While reading this story (before I ever read any reviews) my first thought was that this book is begging to be read aloud to a group of children.  It almost appears to me that DiCamillo wrote this book specifically with that purpose in mind. Because DiCamillo is a very excellent author, I would use this book as a read aloud in the classroom with extension activities.  Some of the activities could include creating a timeline of all the events that occur throughout the story.  This could be a work in progress that is created throughout the reading so that’s students can follow along as the story is read.  Additionally, the teacher could introduce the concept of plot diagrams after finishing the story.  The students would be able to identify the beginning (exposition), rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution of the story using a worksheet prepared in advance. Lastly, The magician’s elephant features a handful of wonderful illustrations by Yoko Tanaka that capture some of the key moments in the story.  After reading the story, the children could create their own storyboard to illustrate five or six important events from the story that really captured their attention.  The children could be given the option to illustrate one scene or different scenes from the entire novel. 

Readalikes:

There are so many other great titles for readers ranging in age from 8-12 years old who loved the magical adventure of The magician’s elephant.  Readers likely enjoyed the realistic characters, the hope and love, and the magic created by DiCamillo and each of the following books captures some element of that.

Where the mountain meets the moon by Grace Lin is a Newberry Honor book that includes all the magical elements of a great fantasy along with friendship and adventures.  There are no elephants, but there is dragon, although he is unable to fly.

Another great fantasy title for young readers is Dying to meet you by Kate Klise.  This fantasy-mystery tells a slightly humorous story of an author named Ignatius B. Grumpy that moves into a mansion located at 43 Old Cemetery Road.  There is a problem though; the house is actually already occupied by an 11 year old boy, a cat, and a ghost named olive.  The great thing about this book is it is part of a 7 book series featuring stories from 43 Old Cemetery Road which will keep kids reading.

For a unique take on fantasy fiction, I highly recommend Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston because it is written entirely in rhyme yet still tells a fantastic story.  I personally think this book is best used for a read-aloud either at home between parents and children or in a classroom setting.  The story tells of two young girls who are taken on an adventure to the moon and they try to save the planet from an evil boredom machine.  Many of the reviews called the book Dr. Seuss on steroids! This really is a must read for kids in upper elementary or middle school.

Checkout my Goodreads list of children and youth literature I read during the Spring 2018 Semester at UNT.