A group of five puppets go on a journeyThe story starts with an old sea captain named Spelhorst who once lived above a tailor's shop. The old captain liked to wander around the city, to take his mind off his troubles. His heart had been broken many years ago and he'd never gotten over it. On one of his walks he comes across a toy shop. Hanging in the toy shop's window are five puppets – a king and a wolf and a girl and boy and an owl. The sea captain eventually puts the puppets in a trunk with the name Spelhorst written on it. Sadly the captain dies and the trunk is sold on. Eventually the puppets come into the possession of two young girls, Emma and Martha. They create a special performance using the puppets.
Meanwhile, the puppets are animated and have a life of their own. They talk among themselves about their fate and have their own distinct, sometimes comical, characters. The king sees himself as an exalted monarch, while the wolf is proud of her prowess as hunter. In one amusing scene the maid, Jane Twiddum, mistakes the owl for an old duster and throws him in a bucket. In another hair-raising encounter the boy is picked up by a hawk and taken on a ride, only to be dumped in the forest.
Kate Di Camillo has set her magical tale in an imagined early nineteenth century setting. There are maids and parlour rooms and the clip clop of horses' hooves – think the Regency period of Jane Austen. The novel is rich in atmosphere and Di Camillo's language expertly evokes a fabled world of long ago. The story cleverly ties up the sad longing of the sea captain in the puppet's final performance.
An entirely satisfying story mixing elements of imaginative play and grief. Children's storytelling doesn't get much better than this.
The Puppets of Spelhorst, by Kate DiCamillo. Published by Walker Books. $24.99
NOV23
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