LOST EVANGELINE

Like a Thumbelina with agency, a tiny girl winds her way through a great, strange world.

DiCamillo’s latest Norendy Tale opens on a poor cobbler who’s always dreamed of going to sea. One day, he discovers a minuscule baby in the toe of a boot and raises the girl, whom he names Evangeline, as his own. The two dream of setting sail someday, but before that can happen, the child is stolen away and sold to a rich old widow, setting off a series of adventures. Through it all, searching father and lost daughter meet a host of strange characters—an immensely self-possessed marmalade cat, a nasty sideshow proprietor—as they attempt to find one another. Will they? In true DiCamillo fashion, the ending is suffused with the gentlest melancholy, allowing readers to either believe in their reunion or dismiss it entirely. Illustrator Blackall once more joins forces with DiCamillo to bring the more fairy tale–like elements of the book to gentle life, softening some of their harsher aspects. There are no easy answers in a Norendy tale, but there is great courage, even when it comes in the smallest of packages. The characters are pale-skinned.

A tender tale featuring a young protagonist who possesses equal parts yearning and spunk, to great effect.