This is beautifully written story with a rich vocabulary. Nitty is an orphan on the run from her home, when she encounters a gentleman with these special green beans. While she is taking the beans she sees an elephant being hung in the middle of town. She and the elephant, Mags, have a very special bond and run from the town. They run into a dust storm and seek shelter in an old barn. This is where their adventure truly begins. A creative story that has mystery, magic beans, life lessons, and new love. While i enjoyed the story there were moments that I believe a younger child may not understand fully. There is also many words i believe will have children looking into the dictionary to find the meaning. Overall a great book with some mature detail that may be best suited for older children or for reading along with an adult and discussing your point of views throughout. ( )

Nitty Luce runs away from Grimsgate orphanage, steals a pouch of magically green seeds, and steals/rescues an elephant that's about to be hanged, before escaping in a dust storm. Girl and elephant (Mag, short for Magnolious) wind up in Windle Homes' barn, and he grudgingly allows them to stay. But the town of Fortune's Bluff is suffering from ever-worsening "dusters," even as the dust storms die out elsewhere, and Nitty's new neighbor Twitch believes the mayor is the villain at the heart of the mystery and misfortune. A Depression-era, Dust Bowl tale laced with magic (the green seeds bear "froozle fruit," the mayor has invented a machine that sends targeted dusters, Nitty and Mag communicate almost telepathically) makes for a unique read - with a delightful, delicious vocabulary (Nitty gets many of her words from newspapers).

Recommended by a library patron.

Quotes

"Who needs expertise when you have confidence?" (47)

"Limitations are as plentiful in this world as the air we breathe. You think you can beat them. We all do, at one time or another. But we can't." (Windle to Nitty, 60)

Dreams are forces in themselves, strong enough to leave footprints behind in the imagination. (62)

Understanding a place and its people...was the best way to stay out of mischief when you didn't want it and to find it when you did. (83)

To say that one mysterious happening was impossible meant that others were, too. (121)

"How do you make peace with certain sorts of cruelty?"
"Maybe you never do."
"Maybe you bury them with your own better doings." (Ferdinand, Twitch, and Nitty, 135)

The difference between wanting and doing...is the difference between a paintbrush and a masterpiece. (141)

"Well, you can't be prepared for everything all the time." (Nitty to Windle, 184)

"There are limits to what people can bear." (Windle to Nitty, 207)

"Fear blinds folks from lots of wrongs they should see." (Twitch to Nitty, 218)

"Why is it that caring for another soul means you want to do what's best for them, even when it's hurtful to you?" (Nitty to Twitch, 300)

"Each and every one of us has a say when it comes to what is right." (Nitty, 336) ( )