The Puppets of Spelhorst (Kate DiCamillo)

 

This is a quick read, but I'm not sure it'll be a hit with students. It could make for a good study though because it appears there is some amazing symbolism in there somewhere where I haven't quite gone yet. It's subtitled, A Norendy Tale, and in the bookjacket it references two more books....so maybe there is more to come to help me understand this story? In the beginning of the story the puppets are bought by the sea captain who spends all his time, and eventually dies in bed. In the end, Jane Twiddum takes the puppets to go find her lost love. Was her lost love the sea captain? Was he writing to someone else (she did have the letter) or did we just go full circle?

I need someone with more time than me to help me discuss this book and figure it out. Candlewick press has a bunch of really interesting questions. Perhaps this is meant as a middle school novel, similar to The Little Prince. 

Goodreads says:

From master storyteller Kate DiCamillo comes an original fairy tale—with enchanting illustrations by Julie Morstad—in which five puppets confront circumstances beyond their control with patience, cunning, and high spirits.

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. 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. A magical and beautifully packaged gift volume designed to be read aloud and shared, The Puppets of Spelhorst is a tale that soothes and strengthens us on our journey, leading us through whatever dark forest we find ourselves in.