"Perhaps the sincerest aim of any fairy tale is not to
introduce young readers to the quixotic pleasures of magic and fantasy but
rather to initiate all readers into life’s unspeakable verities: Parents desert
families, orphaned children often go hungry, and even the most loyal beloveds
are capable of astonishing acts of betrayal. Early on in Kate DiCamillo’s
captivating new novel, “Raymie Nightingale,” we learn about an older woman who
regularly feeds a bevy of swans, seeming “like something out of a fairy tale.”
Ten-year-old Raymie Clarke, an anxious heroine, considers the possibility that
it’s “a fairy tale that hadn’t been told yet.” That’s an irresistible promise
to begin a novel with, and DiCamillo is up to the challenge. With its short,
vibrant chapters and clear, gentle prose, this triumphant and necessary book
conjures the enchantments of childhood without shying away from the fraught realities
of abandonment, abuse and neglect..."
~ From the NYTimes Book Review by Amber Dermot
Caledonia continues this award winning book tonight, live in voice.
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