1. Peter is told by the fortuneteller that the “truth is forever changing.” Do you agree? Are there important truths at the beginning of The Magician’s Elephant that aren’t true by the story’s end?

2. The old magician keeps insisting that he intended to conjure a bouquet of lilies, not an elephant. But is he being honest? Why did he want to perform real magic that night in the Bliffendorf Opera House? Why couldn’t he undo his magic?

3. The elephant and the magician have been placed behind bars, but they aren’t the only confined characters in the novel. What restricts Madam LaVaughn? How free are Peter and Adele?

4. One dark day Peter decides “that it was a terrible and complicated thing to hope, and that it might be easier, instead, to despair.” In what ways is despair easier than hope? Does Peter really believe that hope isn’t worth the fight? Do you?

5. Discuss the elephant’s predicament. How has she been failed by the magician’s trick? What is the magical transformation she seeks?

6. Sister Marie has no doubt that every creature has its own name, even the elephant. Why are names so important? Would you be a different person if you had a different name?