The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo is a tale of love and magic. When ten year old orphan, Peter asks a fortune teller if his sister is still alive, he gets an unexpected answer - YES, and that an elephant will lead him to her. Peter doesn't know what to believe; the strange fortune teller with the even stranger fortune or his father's old army friend who has been raising him and training him to be a soldier ever since his father died in the war and his mother died during the birth of the very same sister. Just after Peter hears his fortune, a magician spices up his magic routine just a little and accidentally produces an elephant (instead of a bouquet of lilies), which promptly lands on one Madam LaVaughn, crippling her. Both the magician and the elephant are thrown in jail for this crime. The elephant becomes the talk of the town and ends up being purchased by a prominent woman in society, and put on display. Once Peter learns of the elephant's appearance, he is convinced that his sister really is alive. He enlists the help of a police officer who lives in his apartment building to see the elephant, and then the magician who summoned her. Meanwhile Adelle, Peter's sister who has lived in an orphanage her whole life, begins having dreams of a snowy night and an elephant coming to her rescue. Everything comes together in the end of this magical story!This was a great book! I absolutely loved it. I love the way the author wove all of the different stories together - Adelle, the policeman Mr. Matienne, the homeless singer and his dog, the caretaker of the elephant, Madam LaVaughn, the elephant, the magician, and of course, Peter. A quick read that will make you feel good and believe in magic!
