Books #1 and #2 dealt with the all-important social and emotional issues - friendship, fear, worry, kindness, courage, giving...and more.

Here is #3, a story on the same important path, but at a much more complex level.  Oh, this one is really good!

This is a story of love, courage, and finding oneself.  It is a story of overcoming obstacles and of trust.  It is a story of words - oh, the power of letters and writing and of words.  It is a story of finding your purpose in life.  Finding your way home.

The story is set in medieval times, with kings, soldiers, and of course monks.  Beatryce awakens in the barn of a monastery, with a goat.  A monk, Brother Edik, shelters her.  After all, she's only a child.   Beatrice has no memory, except for her name.  The goat, Answelica, becomes her fierce protector.  And so the story begins.

There is a prophecy in the land, written down by the brothers of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing:

There will one day come a girl child who will unseat a king
and bring about a great change.

Could this child be the one written in the prophecy?

Beatryce can read and write, surprisingly, as it is against the law for women and girls to read and write.  She writes for Brother Edik:

We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong.
We shall all, in the end, find our way home.

Beatryce did not know from where those words came.

As the story -the quest - unravels, she meets Jack Dory and Cannoc who become intertwined with helping Beatryce.  Along the way, they must face their own demons, each in a different way.  Will Beatryce find who she really is?  It takes strength, courage and trust to move forward.

Author Kate DiCamillo is a terrific storyteller.  Her characters are really 'us'.  The stage she sets makes the story all the more exciting.  While it is in medieval times, the theme is just as timely (and important) today.  The book is a new release, I was the first to borrow the library's copy.  I loved this book!  It is for ages 9 and above (to 99) and 247 of the best pages I have read in a long time.

Jennie

Stay tuned for #4, If You Plant a Seed