Raymie Nightingale

Week 3 Award Winning Novel:
Raymie Nightingale
By: Kate DiCamillo
Published: 2016
Award: National Book Award- 
Long List Nominee 2016

“I lay there and thought how life was like a Littmus Lozenge, how the sweet and the sad were all mixed up together and how hard it was to separate them out. It was confusing.”

-Because of Winn-Dixie

by: Kate DiCamillo

I have come to the conclusion that this book is just like a "Littmus Lozenge". It has the zing of root beer, sweetness of a strawberry, and just enough sorrow to make you think. This thing was, the writing was "swampy" just like sweet Louisiana Elefante's lungs, so you weren't always able to tell what you were feeling. Raymie Nightingale is unlike any book I have ever read. It tiptoes on the line between historical and realistic fiction and provides the reader with an incredible effervescent and aesthetic journey. 

Our main character Raymie Clarke is so painfully real. She is the victim of unfortunate familial circumstances and I really found myself aching for her. When her rag-tag group of friends comes together, stitches from laughter are inevitable. Louisiana Elefante and Beverly Tapinski almost stole the show. DiCamillo has created a whole slew of characters that are rich and memorable. The three girls kind of complete each other. This is a great message for any child, to show that everybody has something to bring to the table. The girls may be realistic, but their adventures are so outlandish that the reader cannot help but to be on the edge of their seat until the very last page. 

The writing of this novel is so thought provoking and emotion eliciting. I will openly admit I cried more than once while reading this. Not only tears of sadness as I sympathized with the girls, but also tears of happiness as they accomplished a large task or were rewarded for bravery and handwork.

This review was intentionally vague about the plot. I went into it pretty blind, and I wouldn't want to have experienced this book any other way. Kate DiCamillo has done it again. She has written an incredibly unique and bittersweet novel that will forever live in the hearts of anybody who has read it.  This group would be best used in a classroom book club, as it is very rich in meaning and students could spend countless hours pouring over the text and discussing every little detail. Five incredible well earned stars for the Three Rancheros and their countless attempts to "get the heck out of dodge".