Bibliographic Information
- DiCamillo, K., & Ibatoulline, B. (2006). The miraculous journey of Edward Tulane. Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick Press.
Summary
Edward Tulane is the first of many names given to a rabbit made of china and fur who is treated well and almost spoiled by his first owner, a little girl named Abilene. The rabbit is a gift from her grandmother, but the rabbit is lost on a vacation, caught by a fisherman and his identity changed. So begins a series of passages in the existence of the once uppity toy from one owner to another, each time with a new name, a new role to play and new adventures. He eventually is broken, sold, and purchased by a very familiar woman and daughter.
My Impressions
I loved it. I kept it and rechecked it just to re-read some portions of it. I have seen similar stories like this about a coin passed from one owner to another, or had always wondered where belongings sometimes end up when they are lost. The book is heartwarming from beginning to happy ending. It is a very sweet story to those of us who have ever lost a beloved toy or hat or other valuable. I plan to do a book trailer for this title embedded in another entry in this blog.
Reviews
Lempke, S. (2006). The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. [Review of The miraculous journey of Edward Tulane, by K. DiCamillo and B. Ibatoulline]. Horn Book Magazine, 82(2), 184-185.
Edward Tulane is a china rabbit with real rabbit-fur ears and tail, a sumptuous wardrobe, and a pampered life with Abilene Tulane, the little girl who loves him. Her devotion isn’t returned. Edward’s heart is as
chilly as his china body until his fortune changes and he spends some time in the muck at the bottom of the ocean. He passes through several hands over the years, found first by an elderly fisherman and his wife.
With them, he learns to listen and to remember the stories they whisper to him, and his heart for the first time begins to wake up. Edward’s journey continues—he spends time in a garbage dump, travels around with
a hobo and his dog, and lives with several others, learning to love those who love him. DiCamillo writes tenderly and lyrically but with restraint, keeping a tight focus on Edward’s experience and gradual
awakening. The book is physically beautiful as well, with cream-colored pages and a generous number of illustrations. Ibatoulline’s appropriately old-fashioned sepia-toned drawings and full-color plates, which
possess the same poignant quality as DiCamillo’s prose, ground the fanciful story in a realistic setting. Although Edward (like the Velveteen Rabbit his story can’t help but bring to mind) is the worse for wear, a
happy ending awaits him. --Susan Dove Lempke
Library Usage
This would be a great book for older elementary or even middle school students to create a map of Edward's travels, or to take a particular episode from his travels and expand on the story, create more illustrations, or even artwork to represent the journey. There is a movie of this book being developed, so the release of the movie might be a good time to create a comparison study of book to film.
chilly as his china body until his fortune changes and he spends some time in the muck at the bottom of the ocean. He passes through several hands over the years, found first by an elderly fisherman and his wife.
With them, he learns to listen and to remember the stories they whisper to him, and his heart for the first time begins to wake up. Edward’s journey continues—he spends time in a garbage dump, travels around with
a hobo and his dog, and lives with several others, learning to love those who love him. DiCamillo writes tenderly and lyrically but with restraint, keeping a tight focus on Edward’s experience and gradual
awakening. The book is physically beautiful as well, with cream-colored pages and a generous number of illustrations. Ibatoulline’s appropriately old-fashioned sepia-toned drawings and full-color plates, which
possess the same poignant quality as DiCamillo’s prose, ground the fanciful story in a realistic setting. Although Edward (like the Velveteen Rabbit his story can’t help but bring to mind) is the worse for wear, a
happy ending awaits him. --Susan Dove Lempke
Library Usage
This would be a great book for older elementary or even middle school students to create a map of Edward's travels, or to take a particular episode from his travels and expand on the story, create more illustrations, or even artwork to represent the journey. There is a movie of this book being developed, so the release of the movie might be a good time to create a comparison study of book to film.
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