The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

But as he walks away, he feels that it was the worst kind of promise to make (page 130)Why? Have you ever done the same?

After Peter sees the elephant in the ballroom, he promises to help her.

If the same thing were to happen tomorrow, do you think we would experience it differently? How?.

Can you think of any people or events in contemporary society that have made people feel the same way?.

And secretly, deep within their hearts, even though they knew it could not truly be so, they each expected that the mere sight of the elephant would somehow deliver them, would make their wishes and hopes and desires come true' (pages 113≡14). 'And everyone, each person, had hopes and dreams, wishes for revenge, and desires for love.

When the elephant is on display, the entire city comes to see her.

You must speak words that matter' (page 49). 'It is important that you say what you mean to say. Madam LaVaughn's manservant, Hans, finally says to them: Every day they say the same things to each other: the magician says that he intended only to produce flowers, and she responds that he doesn't understand that she is crippled.

After her injury, Madam LaVaughn visits the prison every day to speak to.

Given what you know about what happened because of this choice, would you have done the same? Why?.

But he wanted to perform something spectacular' (pages 25≢6). 'the words were powerful and also, given the circumstances, somewhat ill-advised.

In the middle of his usual trick to produce lilies, the magician adds the words of a different spell, even though he knows that.

Can you think of an unexpected event in your own life that changed you? How?.

Does it affect everyone in the same way?.How does the unexpected event change the attitude of the city (see pages 55 and 59)?.What happened that was out of the ordinary?.He hadn't promised them nothing special, and they wasn't expecting it neither' (page 19). 'Well, he wasn't much of a magician, and none of them was expecting much, you see that's the thing. When he is standing in line in the market, Peter overhears the fishmonger say,.Can you think of any other stories that begin with an errand that is waylaid? What makes this an effective narrative device? 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' Jack makes a similar choice when he trades his cow for five magic beans instead of selling it. Peter has been given money by Vilna Lutz to buy food, but he spends part of it on a fortuneteller instead.Why do you think that Kate DiCamillo made this choice?.'At the end of the century before last, in the market square of the city of Baltese, there stood a boy. An author makes a very important choice with the first line of any story.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo