The Man Who Loved Clowns

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, ableism, and death.

Delrita returns to school nine days after her parents’ deaths. She feels the package that Walt gave her in her pocket and opens it to find a small carving of a trumpeter swan along with a note. The note says, “Life is like an untouched block of wood. We can carve out a beautiful niche for ourselves, or we can leave it unused and unproductive on a shelf” (108).

At school, everyone is nice to Delrita. For the first time, she doesn’t feel invisible, but she is too sad to respond to the attention. Delrita is afraid that Avanelle will offer a useless platitude like Delrita’s relatives all did, but she doesn’t. Instead, she accompanies Delrita throughout the day without saying much at all. Tree comes to Delrita’s locker, but Delrita can’t speak to him without crying, so she walks away.

Avanelle and Delrita walk home from school together. Avenelle is kind and sympathetic toward Delrita. Delrita realizes that she is like a tree growing out of a rock: Just as trees need light and water, Delrita needs Avenelle. 

Delrita shows her the swan carving from Walt. As they walk, she tells Avanelle everything about finding out her parents died at Silver Dollar City, Whittlin’ Walt, and Aunt Queenie.