The Puppets of Spelhorst

From master storyteller Kate DiCamillo comes an original fairy tale, enchantingly illustrated, in which five puppets confront circumstances beyond their control with patience, cunning and high spirits.

Once, there was a king. And a wolf. And a girl with a shepherd’s crook. And a boy with a bow and arrow. And also, there was an owl... They were puppets, and they were waiting for a story to begin.

In this new work of short fiction by twice winner of the Newbery Medal Kate DiCamillo, exquisitely illustrated in black and white by Governor General Literary Award Finalist Julie Morstad, five puppets who find themselves together in an abandoned trunk are carried off into the adventure of a lifetime.

Nominated for Minnesota Book Awards 2024 (United States) Nominated for Colorado Children’s Book Award 2025 (United States)

An exquisite little book… With lovely retro images and wisdom about friendship and adventure. Children’s books of the year, The Sunday Times
This is a polished little gem… Atmospheric black and white drawings add to the short but absorbing drama. -- Sally Morris Daily Mail
This story is like a perfectly polished pebble. While other writers for children build extravagant worlds and create exhausting quests, Kate DiCamillo has done the opposite with her latest book, The Puppets of Spelhorst, taking all the big themes — love, loss, longing — and distilling them down, down, down to the beautiful, bare bones of a fairytale… It is quite unlike everything else. DiCamillo is a puppetmaster extraordinaire and such an effortless storyteller that you can barely see the strings… A playful, poignant and peculiar story that might just “break your heart and also heal it”. -- Lucy Bannerman The Times
An exquisite little book about five puppets in which a play they perform overlaps with their experience. With lovely retro images and wisdom about friendship and adventure. The Sunday Times
A captivating and magical tale… The book has a fable-like quality, touching on ideas of belonging and destiny, it’s beautifully presented, too, with enchanting black and white illustrations throughout. Juno

Kate DiCamillo is one of America’s most beloved storytellers, author of The Tale of Despereaux and Flora and Ulysses, both of which have been awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal; Because of Winn-Dixie, which received a Newbery Honor; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; and the bestselling Mercy Watson series. She faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.
Julie Morstad is the illustrator of numerous acclaimed books for young readers, including House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg, When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano and Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder.

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