By Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Julie Morstad
4RBooks: 3/6, grades 4-8
Amazon rating: 4.7/5, grade level 2-5
Good Reads: 4.25/5
Common Sense Media: 5/5, age 7+
147 pages
Synopsis:
There once were five puppets: a king, an owl, a boy with a bow and arrows, a wolf, and a girl with a shepherd’s crook. They were hanging in the window of a toy shop, waiting to be sold. An old sea captain walked by one day and bought the set. They were later bought by an uncle as a present for his two nieces, Emma and Martha.
At the girls’ home the puppets had a series of adventures. One was captured by a hawk. Another was taken away by a fox. One became friends with a maid, a fourth found itself trapped in a bucket, and the king found himself waiting alone. Eventually all five were reunited to star in a puppet play written by Emma for dinner guests.
The play told a story that seemed very familiar to the puppets and one member of the audience. The next morning the puppets were gone, spirited away on a new adventure.
Parental Guidance: low
The old man who originally buys the puppets dies of a broken heart.
Different puppets face dangerous moments: grabbed by a hawk and dropped from a great height, teeth pulled out, and grabbed by a fox and taken to its den.
The puppets are stolen at the end of the story.
Recommendation:
This is the first of a series by famed author Kate Di Camillo. The stories are original fairy tales set in the land of Norendy and each will be illustrated by a different artist. Di Camillo is a two-time Newberry Award winner, The Tale of Despereaux and Flora and Ulysses, and is also known for Because of Winn-Dixie, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Tiger Rising.
I was excited to read and review this book but was underwhelmed. The language is beautiful, but the pace is slow, especially in the beginning. There are a couple of interesting plot twists at the end, but young readers might not pick up on them. It does do a decent job of emphasizing the importance of storytelling and sticking together as friends.
This might work okay as a class read aloud with the teacher providing appropriate dramatic tone and pauses. It could also be utilized for reader’s theater with different children reading the parts of the puppets and other characters. As a personal read, it’s short with great illustrations so it’s accessible to a wide variety of readers, but I’m not sure of its appeal to a wide audience.
I’m sure I’ll give other books in the series a read. I hope I am more impressed than I was with this story.
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