I kept forgetting that this was a children's book as I read it yesterday. And now, I am trying to imagine reading it with a child. I think the story, the language both are straightforward enough that children would "get it" at least on a literal level. Perhaps what makes a better than average children's book is if there is more there for adults to take away.
I think this one had that. The characters are richly drawn and believable within a make-believe story. The make-believe story is believable even if we must believe that an elephant falls through the roof of an opera house during a magic show and then ...
The magic gets better as the story draws to its climax!
One of my favorite parts is when the six year old main character, Peter, decides that war, "soldiering did not, in any way, seem like a man's work...Instead, it seemed like foolishness-a horrible, terrible, nightmarish foolishness." Peter says of it, "I look upon it and wish that it could be undone." Out of the mouths of babes...
Thank you, Kate DiCamillo. You did it again!
Mary Ann
