The Tiger Rising (11 page)

Peter’s heart seized upon the words.
She lives. She lives!

“No, please,” said Peter. He closed his eyes. He concentrated. “If she lives, then I must find her, so my question is, how do I make my way there, to where she is?”

He kept his eyes closed; he waited.

“The elephant,” said the fortuneteller.

“What?” he said. He opened his eyes, certain that he had misunderstood.

“You must follow the elephant,” said the fortuneteller. “She will lead you there.”

Copyright © 2009 by Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo
is the author of many beloved books for young readers, including
The Tale of Despereaux,
which received a 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; the best-selling Mercy Watson series; and
The Magician’s Elephant
. About
The Tiger Rising,
she says, “Rob Horton first showed up in a short story I was writing. I finished the story, but apparently Rob wasn’t finished with me. He hung around for weeks afterward, haunting the other stories I was working on. Finally, I said to him ‘What in the world do you want?’ And he said, ‘I know where there’s a tiger.’ Like Sistine, I said one word back to him: ‘Where?’” Kate DiCamillo lives in Minneapolis.