This was a re-read and actually a re-buy because I bought this a couple of years ago and it’s stuck with me, so this second copy is going on the permanent bookshelf. Kate DiCamillo is such an amazing author, every book I’ve read by her is a hit with me. She has a delicacy of tone and a way with emotional gravity that I think children’s books really benefit from. Children need to have books that take them and their concerns seriously, that acknowledge the darkness and difficulty of life, and Raymie Nightingale is one of those books.
Raymie’s father has left her and her mother for a dental hygienist, and she is convinced that if she wins Little Miss Central Florida Tire, her father will see her in the newspaper and will come home. In order to do so, she signs up for baton twirling lessons, where she meets Beverly and Louisiana. Both of them have their own difficulties — Beverly’s father is a cop in New York City and her mother is a former beauty pageant winner who clashes with her, while Louisiana’s parents both died in a trapeze accident and she lives with her grandmother but in constant fear of being taken away and sent to the county home. The three of them have very different personalities, Beverly fearless and angry, Raymie thoughtful and anxious, and Louisiana dreamy and whimsical, but they become friends and learn how to help each other and support each other through a series of challenging events.
I think one of DiCamillo’s strengths is that she can portray so much in fairly spare prose. She packs so much in here, and it’s intensely alive. You get a sense of a fully realized world and you’re immediately fully immersed and concerned about if Raymie will ever see her father again. She also is able to convey the world of a 10 year old child and the magical thinking they go through without ever seeming pandering or treacle-y. She honors their inner experience and she’s there with them. I love this book! I’m excited to read the other ones in the series.
