49 pages • 1 hour read
Henry ColeA Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 30-37Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 30 Summary: “A Discovery”
Celeste decides that the safest course of action is to stay in the attic until Joseph returns from his trip to New Orleans, and she builds a cozy nest in an old feather mattress. One day, she decides to explore the rest of the attic. During her search, she discovers a dollhouse. The mouse is astonished at the beautifully decorated and furnished rooms, which seem the perfect size for her. The dollhouse’s contents are dusty and disorderly, but this doesn’t diminish her enthusiasm. One of the rooms contains a four-poster bed, a lace-covered end table, an armoire, an overstuffed chair, and flowery wallpaper that makes her feel as if she has stepped into “a magical garden” (282). Blissfully, she curls up in the soft bed and tells herself, “I’ve found home” (284).
Chapter 31 Summary: “Housecleaning”
Celeste tugs off the dusty sheet covering the dollhouse and spends days tidying up her new home. The mouse makes a broom out of feathers, sweeps the floors, polishes the chandelier, and inventories the tiny porcelain cups and plates in the dining room. She places a little chair on the attic’s windowsill so that she can look out over the plantation. At last, Celeste is satisfied with her hard work and climbs into bed. As she admires the sunset, she wishes that Joseph, Lafayette, or Cornelius was with her. The combination of her loneliness and her appreciation of nature’s beauty makes her feel “as full, and as empty, as a gourd” (292). Eventually, she falls asleep.
Chapter 32 Summary: “A Homecoming of Sorts”
The next morning, Celeste leaves the attic to gather food. For a moment, she thinks she hears Joseph sketching, but it’s just a clock ticking. The dining room has been swept recently, so the mouse finds only a few crumbs. To Celeste’s shock, she sees that a board has been nailed over the hole under the sideboard. With her emergency escape route cut off, she hurries back upstairs. The cat lies in wait outside the attic door, and Celeste hides as best she can. Eliza scoops up the grumpy cat and carries it downstairs. Celeste rushes to the attic. The relief she feels on coming home is extinguished when she finds Trixie in her bed. The rat says, “I hope you brought back something to eat” (298).
Chapter 33 Summary: “An Unwanted Housemate”
Celeste is too shocked and miserable at the appearance of her uninvited guest to say anything for a moment. Trixie explains that she hid in the cellar for weeks after Illianna’s death, that she saw Celeste go upstairs one night, and that the cat nearly caught her that morning. The rat eats the raisins and the pork rind that Celeste has been saving and demands more food. Trixie mocks the gondola, and Celeste explains that Lafayette carried her in it. The rat accuses her of lying and then demands that she be taken for a flight, too. When Celeste protests that she wouldn’t want to impose on the osprey, Trixie asks, “You’re just too good for your old friends now, is that it?” (306).
Chapter 34 Summary: “Trixie Takes Off…”
A few days later, Celeste spots Lafayette and signals for him to land. The osprey is puzzled by Trixie and by the change in his friend’s demeanor, but he agrees to take Trixie for a ride in the gondola. The grass basket is a tight squeeze for the rat, and she nervously clings to the handles and tells the bird to be careful with her. Lafayette flies off with his passenger. While they’re away, Celeste has a bittersweet morning. While she appreciates the peace and quiet without her bully, she fears the reprieve is only temporary: “I’ve lost my home yet again. Trixie has stolen it from me” (309). She watches the sky and notes that Lafayette and Trixie have been gone a long time.
Chapter 35 Summary: “...Like a Rock Tossed into a Muddy Pond”
Trixie is more interested in shouting orders at Lafayette than in appreciating “the beauty of the awakening landscape” (311). The rat complains about heights, the osprey’s speed, and the morning mist shrouding the river. She demands that Lafayette take her home so that she can have Celeste serve her breakfast. Trixie impatiently tugs on the gondola’s strap. The rope snaps, sending her plummeting into the river “like a rock tossed into a muddy pond” (315). Lafayette calls Trixie’s name and searches the river, but he finds no trace of the rat. When Lafayette finally returns to Celeste, she’s shocked to see the empty basket. The osprey explains what happened and offers the mouse his condolences.
Chapter 36 Summary: “Back from New Orleans”
Joseph returns from New Orleans, and the boy and the mouse are ecstatic to be reunited. He cuddles her and tells her all about the sights, sounds, and smells of the bustling city. Joseph folds a handkerchief into a nest for Celeste and leaves her on his desk while he goes to eat supper. She decides to visit her home in the attic with the intention of returning to Joseph’s room before he realizes she’s gone. However, the cat prevents her return by sitting in front of the knothole in the attic door. After several hours of waiting in vain for the cat to move, Celeste goes to her bed in the dollhouse. She tells herself that the cat will have to leave the door unguarded at some point, and then she’ll be able to help Joseph with his paintings.
Chapter 37 Summary: “Departure”
From her perch in the attic, Celeste sees Mr. Audubon and Joseph loading horses with supplies and their finished paintings. Joseph doesn’t want to leave without the mouse, but Mr. Audubon is impatient to be off. Celeste hurries to Joseph’s room. She realizes that her friend is about to leave Oakley Plantation, never to return. Even if she could somehow reach the yard, the mouse would be in danger from the horses, cat, and dog. Celeste calls Joseph’s name, but he doesn’t notice her. She watches Joseph and Mr. Audubon ride out of sight. Then she returns to her home in the attic. She reflects on the boy’s kindness and artistry, and she decides that the memories they made together are worth “the heartache of losing a friend” (332).
A wren flies into the attic and introduces herself as Violet. The bird explains that she is a friend of Cornelius and the thrush told her that Celeste could use a friend to help her pass the winter. Celeste gratefully accepts the offer and shares some berries with the wren. Violet praises Celeste’s nest and asks how she came to live in the dollhouse. Celeste recounts her story, including the thunderstorm, the flight in the gondola, and the painting she secretly helped Mr. Audubon create. Reflecting on her memories with Joseph, Cornelius, and Lafayette, the mouse is grateful to have such good friends.
Chapters 30-37 Analysis
In the novel’s final section, Celeste at last finds her perfect home. The motif of nests takes on particular prominence in these chapters. In Chapter 30, Celeste makes a temporary refuge in a pile of mattresses: “The nest she made in the old feather mattress was cozy, safe, and quiet” (279). Because this is her first home in the attic, it represents an important step towards her ideal nest. Later in the chapter, Celeste discovers the dollhouse, and the narrator provides lovingly detailed descriptions of the mouse-sized structure: “There were tiny, ornate picture frames, carved and beveled, holding tiny pictures: a still life, a portrait, a country landscape. Clustered around a tiny dining table were several chairs, each with a needlepoint seat” (281). These details resonate with Celeste’s appreciation for beauty, which was demonstrated previously through her admiration of the plantation house’s furnishings, her awe at nature, and her enjoyment at watching the artists work.
Although Celeste states aloud that she’s found her home, she must contend with loneliness and bullying before the dollhouse becomes her perfect sanctuary. Chapter 31 captures the protagonist’s bittersweet situation: “The sheer beauty of this moment was perfect and sublime. But she was alone” (292). Trixie’s sudden reappearance in Chapter 32 proves that Celeste’s Search for Home has not yet reached its happy ending. Because of the rat’s intrusion, the dollhouse becomes “unsafe, uncertain, and unhappy” (303). Just as the cozy atmosphere of the dollhouse deteriorates because of Trixie, Celeste’s characterization reverts to what it was at the start of the novel. Despite the friends she’s made and the many daring adventures she’s had since she last saw the bully, the rat’s reappearance brings back all of her old fear and timidity.
Trixie’s downfall demonstrates the importance of true friendship. Although the rat calls herself one of Celeste’s “old friends” (306), she clearly does not behave the way a friend should. Lafayette, on the contrary, immediately notices that Celeste is not her usual self in Chapter 34 because he is a true friend. The osprey plays an essential albeit unintentional role in Trixie’s demise. Cole makes it clear that the rat falls due to her own impatience and greed: “‘I said, Hurry up! I’m hungry! The only view I want is of a plate full of food!’ With that she gave the strap another hard yank. In an instant, one end snapped” (315). Lafayette’s sincere apologies to Celeste contain dramatic irony: “I’m terribly sorry, sweetheart, about your loss” (316). The reader is aware that Trixie’s death is a cause for celebration rather than grief because Celeste is forever free from her bully now.
Chapter 36 explores the themes of home and friendship and forces the protagonist to unknowingly choose between Joseph and her ideal nest. The companions’ joyful reunion reasserts that the boy values Celeste greatly: “I missed you, Little One. I had no one to talk to. I’d find myself talking like you were there” (320). However, Celeste struggles to decide whether her true home is with Joseph or in the attic. She tells herself that she returns to the dollhouse “[j]ust to see it one more time” (321), but her desire to revisit this nest shows that she is not ready to relinquish its comforts. The cat advances the plot and makes Celeste’s choice to go to the dollhouse rather than remain with Joseph a permanent decision. While both friends grieve at their parting, this development suggests that the mouse is ready to create a safe home for herself without the human’s help.
The story’s happy ending reinforces the protagonist’s growth and celebrates home and friendship. Despite the pain of her solitude, Celeste cherishes her time with Joseph: “Would she rather not have the heartache of losing a friend and not have the memory of friendship? No, she decided, no” (332). Violet’s arrival also underlines The Importance of Friendship. Celeste looks out for others throughout the story, and Cornelius repays her kindness by asking Violet to keep Celeste company during his absence in the winter. Berries, which symbolize friendship, appear again as Celeste shares treats and her story with the wren. Celeste’s adventures are all connected by the thread of her search for home, so recounting the tale of how she found the dollhouse means reflecting on all of the companions she met and perils she faced along the way. This narrative choice helps to bring the novel full circle and reminds the reader of the protagonist’s character development. In just a few months, Celeste goes from a miserable, solitary creature to a cherished friend, a proud helper of accomplished artists, and a brave rescuer.
