At its heart this is a story about the serendipity of life. It is also a quietly understated love story (and you know I adore those). And a story about the fulfilment of hopes and dreams.
Five puppets languish in a toy store. There is an owl made from real feathers. A young girl with striking violet eyes. A boy with a bow and arrow set. A King who is wearing a crown. And a wolf with very sharp teeth. By chance, a lonely old sea Captain sees the puppets in the window of a toy store. He has no reason to buy this set of toys but the young girl, with her violet eyes, rekindles and old memory of his lost love from long ago. Back at home that night the man named Spelhorst writes a letter, and he places it in his old travelling trunk. This is the final act of his life but it is not the final act for the set of puppets. Their adventures are about to begin - be sure to listen carefully to their hopes and dreams.
The old sailor's trunk is sold and eventually ends up in a home with two young girls. The older girl, Emma, knows these puppets should be part of a play. She finds and reads the letter, but we still have no idea what it says. At this point the fate of those five very different puppets is in the balance. The owl is mistaken for a feather duster and he ends up in a cleaning bucket. The younger sister, as is the way with very young children, takes the boy and the wolf. Her treatment of the wolf made me gasp. And we watch as the boy, in a way I won't explain here, ends up in the top branches of a tree.
Finally, we come to the night of the play. Emma has written the script and made the scenery. She needs her younger sister Martha and their maid, Jane Twiddum, to help her with the performance. We don't meet the assembled adults but this performance, in three acts, is filled with pathos. It also links very subtly back to that letter written all those weeks ago by the old sailor.
A quiet, comforting fable of identity and belonging. Kirkus
Blurb by Kate DiCamillo: Shut up in a trunk by a taciturn old sea captain with a secret, five friends—a king, a wolf, a girl, a boy, and an owl—bicker, boast, and comfort one another in the dark. Individually, they dream of song and light, freedom and flight, purpose and glory, but they all agree they are part of a larger story, bound each to each by chance, bonded by the heart’s mysteries. When at last their shared fate arrives, landing them on a mantel in a blue room in the home of two little girls, the truth is more astonishing than any of them could have imagined.
Betsy Bird mentions the three songs in this book, and I felt exactly the same way - I do hope someone can set these to music.
Last week I saw Walker Books Australia had a little 'competition' give away advance copies of The Puppets of Spelborst - you know the kind of thing - first 'x' number of people to respond to this email will be sent an advance copy of Kate DiCamillo's new book. I had very little hope of winning because it was already late in the morning and surely tons of people had seen the email but NO, I was lucky, and I won this book. I picked up the parcel today at 12 noon and I read the whole book in one quick sitting as soon as I arrived home.
I am calling this book a novella partly because it only has around 150 pages but also because, even though this looks like a slim and therefore junior book, it is not - I would put this book into the hands of readers aged 10+ who will appreciate the way Kate DiCamillo constructs her story and the way she gives each of her puppet and human characters very distinct personalities. There is some violence in this story but also tiny touches of humor and wonderful moments where we witness the fulfilment of dreams.
This book will be released in mid-October here in Australia, so I suggest you pop it onto your shopping list now or place an advance order with your favourite independent bookstore. I guess this will be the first book in a series because the publisher webpage says this is Book One in the Norendy Tale series. And I found more detail on Kate DiCamillo's web page: A beloved author of modern classics draws on her most moving themes with humor, heart, and wisdom in the first of the Norendy Tales, a projected trio of novellas linked by place and mood, each illustrated in black and white by a different virtuoso illustrator.
Here is a PBS interview with Kate DiCamillo. And even more importantly please take a little time to read this New Yorker profile piece from September this year.
The reporter says uses these words when talking about The Puppets of Spelhorst: 'Joy and Despair' 'Truth Wonder and Sorrow'.
And here is a quote by Kate from the interview:
"One of the great things about being able to tell stories is that I can find a way to make sense out of what happened to me as a kid. And maybe help another kid feel safe and less alone."
Kate DiCamillo dedicates this book to her friend Ann Patchett. Read what Ann Patchett says about Kate DiCamillo and her books here.
My copy of The Puppets of Spelhorst is a paperback ARC but I think the real copy will be a special edition hardcover [9781529512854]. I do like the black and white pencil illustrations by Julie Morstad (I love her work) but it would be even more thrilling to see them in colour.
This book made me think of these picture books (but they are far simpler stories).
