The Beatryce Prophecy

Starred review from July 19, 2021
Set “during a time of war” when “terrible things happen everywhere,” Newbery Medalist DiCamillo’s engrossing medieval fable verges on darkness while examining what changes a world. When gentle Brother Edik finds young Beatryce in the monastery barn, she is covered in blood and dirt, plagued by fever, and holding the ear of the ferocious goat Answelica—who has until now terrorized the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing with her bites and butts. Upon emerging from her sickness, Beatryce recalls only her name and her ability to read and write, the latter a dangerous secret in a land where only a few people, solely men, are permitted those skills. Fearful of who might be searching for such a child—and of her possible connection to the prophecy of “a girl child who will unseat a king”—the monastery’s brethren rid themselves of girl and goat, sending Beatryce away with protector Answelica. In the often-harrowing world, Beatryce encounters idiosyncratic individuals she can trust, each with a painful history that’s rendered humanely in DiCamillo’s deliberate third-person telling (characters default to white). Tenderly illuminated by Caldecott Medalist Blackall’s atmospheric, fine-lined b&w art, this compassionate tale rejoices in “the wonder of being known,” the protective powers of understanding one’s identity, and the strength found in the hard head of a beloved goat. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. Illustrator’s agent: Marietta Zacker, Gallt & Zacker.

October 1, 2021

Gr 3-6-The prophecy speaks of a girl who will unseat a king and change the world. It doesn't exactly mention a goat, but true prophecy will find a way to be fulfilled...especially if the hard-headed, and hard-butting, Answelica has anything to do with it. Brother Edik, a monk who illuminates manuscripts and pronounces the occasional prophecy (including the one about Beatryce), is startled to find a very sick girl curled up in the straw next to the monastery's irascible goat. He doesn't realize that the king is looking to capture this very girl; he takes her in and nurses her back to health. The goat refuses to leave Beatryce's side as she is eventually forced to leave the monastery and earn her way by writing (in a world where girls are not allowed to read and write), and ultimately by befriending others who help demonstrate that Beatryce is, in fact, the girl foretold to change everything. Hand to fans of Adam Gidwitz's The Inquisitor's Tale (although there are no farting dragons here). VERDICT DiCamillo's fantasy has no magic, but is a gentle tale of the power of love and the determination to do the right thing, even when that thing comes at great personal cost. Recommended for tweens in all library settings, both independent and read-alouds.-Elizabeth Friend, Wester M.S., TX

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2021
As this rich and absorbing novel opens, Brother Edik finds a sick girl in the barn of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing, curled up with the "demon goat" Answelica. The child recovers from her fever but has lost her memory, remembering only her name, Beatryce. Brother Edik and the other monks hide Beatryce and her talents as well: the ability to read and write, a "beautiful and agile mind," and a "dangerous will." Beatryce, it is revealed, is the girl named in a prophecy, destined to "unseat a king and bring about a great change." As Brother Edik tells her, "It is dangerous for you to be who you are...And so you must pretend to be someone you are not." The king and his counselor are on her trail, so she agrees to disguise herself, to have her hair shorn and wear a monk's robe. Soon, however, she must enter the world and, with Brother Edik, Answelica, and the orphan boy Jack Dory, begins a journey to take charge of her own destiny. The king's machinations are effectively delineated in bold font in brief sections to remind readers that evil is afoot. The pairing of two-time Newbery Medalist DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux, rev. 9/03; Flora & Ulysses, rev. 9/13) and two-time Caldecott Medalist Blackall (Finding Winnie, rev. 9/15; Hello Lighthouse, rev. 3/18) is a magical alchemy. Blackall's black-and-white pencil drawings and ornamented initials convey a medieval setting, while DiCamillo's elegant, honed prose weaves a beautiful tapestry of true friends, a feisty goat, and a road to a castle where destiny will unfold. Dean Schneider

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from August 1, 2021
DiCamillo returns to fairy-tale mode with the story of a girl destined to unseat a king. One by one the players take the stage: Answelica, a fearsome goat whose teeth mirror her soul--"large, sharp, and uncompromising"; hapless Brother Edik, who sees beauty everywhere; Beatryce, a bedraggled child who arrives at the monastery knowing only her first name and who shocks the monks by being able to write; Jack Dory, an orphan with a gift for mimicry; and finally Cannoc, an old man who has given up everything except laughter. (There are bad people also, of course, because this story takes place during a time of war, but none of them are given proper names.) Cast out from the monastery and endangered by villains, they take refuge in the dark woods where Beatryce begins to remember more than her name and attempts to answer the question, "what world is this I now inhabit, and how shall I live in it?" The story is told in language as clear and beautiful as an illuminated manuscript, with characters who spring instantly to life. The fairy-tale conventions give it a sense of timelessness and omnipresence without once becoming twee or unwieldy. Blackall's luminous black-and-white illustrations and medieval-style spot art add to this feeling and are wonderful at conveying emotion through posture, pose, and delicate linework. Characters are described and drawn as White. A book with an angelic soul: large, sharp, and uncompromising. (Fairy tale. 8-14)

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Starred review from May 15, 2021
Grades 3-6 *Starred Review* Father Edik's usual trepidation over approaching Answelica the goat's enclosure skyrockets upon seeing a sleeping girl there, clutching the foul-tempered creature's ear. This turns out to be Beatryce, a girl with no memory aside from her name, a girl who can read and write despite laws prohibiting such a thing, a girl about whom Father Edik believes he may have written in his order's prophetic Chronicles of Sorrowing: "There will one day come a girl child who will unseat a king and bring about a great change." It isn't long before word reaches the monastery that the king is also looking for Beatryce on account of the prophecy, so Father Edik disguises her as a monk and sends her off with Answelica, her fierce and loyal protector, and a bright boy from town named Jack Dory, who has an interesting story of his own. Somehow, DiCamillo manages to fit a medieval epic into just over 250 pages--and that includes many glorious black-and-white illustrations by Blackall that one can easily envision stitched upon a tapestry. DiCamillo fills her narrative with humor and love, never getting in the way of her characters (or Answelica's boney head) as they work through difficult choices and display many forms of bravery. It's a gently feminist tale where stories carry the same power as magic and are, perhaps, one and the same.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Rumor has it that this might be popular. And might win all the awards.

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July 1, 2021
As this rich and absorbing novel opens, Brother Edik finds a sick girl in the barn of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing, curled up with the "demon goat" Answelica. The child recovers from her fever but has lost her memory, remembering only her name, Beatryce. Brother Edik and the other monks hide Beatryce and her talents as well: the ability to read and write, a "beautiful and agile mind," and a "dangerous will." Beatryce, it is revealed, is the girl named in a prophecy, destined to "unseat a king and bring about a great change." As Brother Edik tells her, "It is dangerous for you to be who you are...And so you must pretend to be someone you are not." The king and his counselor are on her trail, so she agrees to disguise herself, to have her hair shorn and wear a monk's robe. Soon, however, she must enter the world and, with Brother Edik, Answelica, and the orphan boy Jack Dory, begins a journey to take charge of her own destiny. The king's machinations are effectively delineated in bold font in brief sections to remind readers that evil is afoot. The pairing of two-time Newbery Medalist DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux, rev. 9/03; Flora & Ulysses, rev. 9/13) and two-time Caldecott Medalist Blackall (Finding Winnie, rev. 9/15; Hello Lighthouse, rev. 3/18) is a magical alchemy. Blackall's black-and-white pencil drawings and ornamented initials convey a medieval setting, while DiCamillo's elegant, honed prose weaves a beautiful tapestry of true friends, a feisty goat, and a road to a castle where destiny will unfold.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)