Suddenly it began to ring. Jennifer hesitated, then lifted the receiver.
“Jennifer?” asked a familiar voice.
“Yes, Mr. Elives, this is Jennifer.”
“I just wanted to let you know that Bufo and Esmerelda are safely on their way.”
“Will I ever see them again?” she asked, a sudden stab of longing shooting through her.
“I guarantee it. For now, though, you should have your hands full with Jerome and Roxanne. I think you’ll like them. They just need a good place to stay while they get used to the world.”
“They’re welcome here,” said Jennifer sincerely.
“I thought they would be,” said Mr. Elives. He paused, then said, “You did well, Jennifer. I am pleased with you.”
Coming from the old man, the words made Jennifer feel as though she had just been told she was the most wonderful person in the world. Or the most beautiful.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
After she hung up, she sat in the dark, her hands resting on the phone. From the other side of the room, she could hear Jerome and Roxanne, squabbling good-naturedly about how they were going to arrange their living quarters.
She remembered Mr. Elives’ last words, just before she put down the receiver: “If this works out, I expect that I’ll have many assignments for you in the future.”
She smiled into the darkness.
It was going to be an interesting life.
Maybe even a beautiful one.
A Note from the Author
One reason I keep writing stories about Mr. Elives’ magic shop is that it was the kind of place I had longed to find when I was a kid myself.
The first time I found the shop was when I was writing a book called The Monster’s Ring. Not long after that book was published, I sat down and made a list of things you could buy in such a place, things that could start an adventure.
My first thought was that I would write a book of short stories called Tales from the Magic Shop. Each story would have been about a different character who stumbled into Mr. Elives’ shop. But the truth is, I have a hard time with short stories, and the things I write tend to get longer and longer, until eventually they turn into books.
The first time I tried to write the story of Jennifer Murdley, I finished about forty pages, ending with a scene in which the kids looked out Jennifer’s window and saw a toad the size of a Volkswagen. Then I invented an outline for the rest of the story—a complicated plot that involved Mr. Elives being kidnapped, a planet full of toads, and a lizard who made too many puns. I sent the finished chapters and the outline to several editors, who almost unanimously said something along the lines of “Love the toad, hate the outline.”
So, I put the story away for a while (often the smartest thing to do with an idea that is not quite working). What happened next is kind of complicated, but the short version is that my friend Jane Yolen, a famous children’s book writer and editor, asked me to do some books for a new line she was starting. I showed her what I had written on Jennifer’s story, and her reaction was the same as the other editors who had seen it, with a difference: She figured I could fix the end, and she gave me a contract to write the book.
Now I had to come up with a new ending. The only problem was I had no idea what it was going to be.
I went right back to the beginning of the book. From the start, I had known that Jennifer wanted to be special. But it wasn’t until this time around—about eight years after I first had the idea for the book—that I realized she wanted to be beautiful. Suddenly the book began to make sense to me.
I was interested in writing about the topic of beauty because it is so confusing to me. We all know that beauty is only skin-deep, you should never judge a book by its cover, etc., etc. Now I will make an embarrassing confession: Even though I know those things, I spend a ridiculous amount of time in front of my mirror, studying my looks, trying to figure out if they are good enough. I know this is foolish, but that doesn’t stop me. And I am not alone; the culture we live in is obsessed with beauty over brains, skin over soul, heartthrobs over great hearts. I don’t have any answers for how we can get past that nonsense, but I thought the issue was at least worth looking at.
The hardest part of writing Jennifer’s story was finding an ending. In an old-fashioned fairy tale, she would have gotten her wish and become beautiful at the end. Yecch! An ending like that would have betrayed the whole spirit of the book. It would have betrayed Jennifer. So, in the end she doesn’t get her wish. But she does get something else that is, perhaps, just as good.
Maybe even better.
That’s the way it goes in this world, at least some of the time.
About the Author
BRUCE COVILLE is the author of over 100 books for children and young adults, including the international bestseller My Teacher Is an Alien, the Unicorn Chronicles series, and the much-beloved Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. His work has appeared in a dozen languages and won children’s choice awards in a dozen states.
Before becoming a full time writer Bruce was a teacher, a toymaker, a magazine editor, a gravedigger, and a cookware salesman. He is also the creator of Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company devoted to producing full cast, unabridged recordings of material for family listening and has produced over a hundred audiobooks, directing and/or acting in most of them.
Bruce lives in Syracuse, New York, with his wife, illustrator and author Katherine Coville.
Visit his website at www.brucecoville.com.
Bruce Coville, Jennifer Murdley's Toad
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