The Magician's Elephant is a children's novel by Kate DiCamillo, published in 2009. It was adapted in 2023 into a film called The Magician’s Elephant, directed by Wendy Rogers and starring the voice of Noah Jupe.
The story follows Peter, a young boy searching for his long-lost sister. Guided by a fortune teller's instructions, he seeks out the elephant of a magician, who may be the key to reuniting the siblings.
The Magician's Elephant includes the following examples:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The magician, when performing at the Bliffendorf Opera House, intends to conjure a bouquet of lilies and present them to Madam Bettine LaVaughn, when he is struck suddenly with the notion that he has wasted his life. Wanting to perform something spectacular, he mutters the words of a spell that his magic teacher had entrusted to him long ago. This results in his conjuring an elephant, which crashes through the ceiling and into Madam LaVaughn's lap, crushing her legs and rendering her unable to walk. He tries to undo the magic. But, though he says the spell, as well as the words themselves, in reverse, as the spell requires, nothing happens. For this, the magician is confined to prison.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The storybook Vilna confiscated from a comrade in arms during the war.
- Gloria's ribbing of her husband's Fleeting Passionate Hobbies, specifically parachuting.
- Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: The fortune teller's only advice on how Peter can find his sister is to "Follow the elephant".
- Determinator: Peter's fundamental virtue is that even when set the supposedly impossible task of following an elephant to his sister, he refuses to simply give up.
- Empathic Environment: The whole town is still suffering from the fallout of a war, in spirit at least, resulting in a permanent blanket of clouds across the sky.
- Fortune Teller: At the start of the book, Peter visits a fortune teller who gives him the clue to find his sister.
- Going to See the Elephant: Inverted. Peter goes with a group of people to see the titular elephant for two reasons: first, to find out if his sister is still alive and secondly, to get the elephant home.
- I Will Find You: Peter is convinced that his sister is still alive, and is advised to follow an elephant to find her.
- MacGuffin: Everything Peter does is for the elephant, but honestly the elephant really has no purpose to the plot beyond a motivating incident for Peter.
- Misery Builds Character: Vilna tries to invoke this by training Peter in the ways of the soldier, to make the boy tough enough for a cruel world.
- Old Soldier: Vilna is very much this.
- Orphanage of Love: Aside from some wanderlust, Adele is perfectly happy in Sister Marie's orphanage.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Vilna and Sister Marie have been scarred by the past war. The former copes by keeping to his military training, while the latter hides from the world in her orphanage.
