MODULE 8: Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Genre:

Fantasy and Science Fiction

Book Summary:

Ten-year-old Abilene adores and dotes on her vain, porcelain rabbit, Edward Tulane. After falling into the ocean, Edward begins an adventure, passing through the lives of several new owners. Each stop brings a little more damage to Edward’s outer appearance but teaches him about love and the human spirit. The final stop brings him full circle and reunites Edward with an old and new friend.

APA Reference of Book:

DiCamillo, K., & Ibatoulline, B. (2006). The miraculous journey of Edward Tulane. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.

Impressions:

This is a charming fantasy book that reads like a fairy tale or fable as Edward learns about unconditional love. Edward’s owner, Abilene loves him despite his narcissistic ways. Each of the people he meets along the journey give Edward a piece of his heart but after Sarah dies, Edward does not want to love anymore because it hurts sometimes.  However, in the toy shop, one of the dolls sums it up best when she tells Edward, “if you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless.” Edward learns that even if you get hurt, the journey is not worth it if there is no love. Just like the prodigal son, when Edwards is reunited with Abilene and her daughter Maggie, she accepts him with open arms and Edward finally feels at home. The ethereal illustrations add to the story bringing the characters to life.

Professional Review:

There's something about an inanimate rabbit that sets fabulists scurrying to the anxious task of sorting out whom and why we love and whether it's ever enough. Somewhere between The Velveteen Rabbit and The Big Ugly Monster and the Little Stone Rabbit (BCCB 9/04), we find Edward Tulane, a dandified specimen belonging to a girl for whom he has little use, other than as a valet to dress him in his finery. Her grandmother Pellegrina senses this and tells girl and toy a cautionary tale about the wretched fate of a beautiful princess who loved no one. Her words transmute into a curse for the unfortunate rabbit, who, after being lost overboard on a cruise, begins a long journey of misadventures. He is alternately beloved and treated with scorn, but in the course of his ignominious fate, he learns what it means to love. The plot is often contrived and the sentiment inclined toward the maudlin, yet there is more than a touch of Hans Christian Andersen in the sadistic treatment Edward must endure to ultimately learn his lesson; indeed, adults will love this moral, especially those who feel that their petted and pampered offspring are not forthcoming enough with the displays of gratitude and affection that warrant their indulgence. Children, on the other hand, may be swept along by the pathos of Edward's various ordeals, especially the final loss of the boy who steals him off a scarecrow's pole to take to his dying sister, and then, after her lingering death, takes him to the city only to lose him to a toymaker, nobly choosing to give a broken and ratty Edward up so that he might be restored to his former glory. The delicate sepia images that head each chapter and the full-color illustrations augment the emotional tenor of the book; each image manages to evoke a sense of longing that serves to involve the reader in Edward's transformation, thus rendering the newly humbled and loving rabbit's return to his former owner an affecting conclusion.

APA Reference of Professional Review:

Coats, K. (2006). The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (review). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 59(8), 347-348. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Library Uses:

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is a modern fable warning about vanity and narcissism. Students could find other stories with similar messages or write their own fables warning of other human weaknesses.

Readalikes:

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo – This is a story about a mouse named Despereaux, Roscuro the rat, and Miggery Sow, an unlikely group of characters who eventually come together to save the Princess Pea.

The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo – Peter believes he has no family after being orphaned when his mother died giving birth to his sister, also presumed dead. After a fortune teller tells him that his sister is still alive and that an elephant will lead him to her, Peter finds that nothing is impossible.

Pax by Sara Pennypacker – Peter and Pax are inseparable until Peter’s father goes to war and Peter must go live with his grandfather and is forced to set Pax free. Unable to bear the separation, Peter goes in search of the fox.  Pax finds a group of foxes who teach him how to be a fox.