THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE
Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who treated him with the utmost care and adored him completely.
And then, one day, he was lost.
Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the top of a garbage heap to the fireside of a hoboes’ camp, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis.
Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who treated him with the utmost care and adored him completely.
And then, one day, he was lost.
Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the top of a garbage heap to the fireside of a hoboes’ camp, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. And along the way, we are shown a true miracle — that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.
- Candlewick Press
- Paperback
- July 2009
- 208 Pages
- 9780763647834
Buy the Book
$11.99
About Kate DiCamillo & Bagram Ibatoulline (Illustrator)
Kate DiCamillo is one of America’s most beloved storytellers. She is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and a two-time Newbery Medalist. She is the author of many books for young readers, including The Tale of Despereaux, which received a Newbery Medal; Because of Winn-Dixie, which received a Newbery Honor; The Tiger Rising, a National Book Award Finalist; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, winner of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; The Magician’s Elephant; and the best-selling Mercy Watson series. Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.
Bagram Ibatoulline is an award-winning Russian artist and illustrator of Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
Praise
A New York Times Bestseller and ABA Indie Bestseller
Boston Globe—Horn Book Awards Winner, Fiction Category
Publishers Weekly and Chicago Tribune’s Best Books of the Year
Booklist Editors’ Choice
Top 10 Fantasy Books for Youth, Booklist
New York Public Library Children’s Books: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
“Ibatoulline outdoes himself — Yet even standing alone, the story soars because of DiCamillo’s lyrical use of language and universal yearnings.”—Book Links
“The powerful storytelling of bestselling author DiCamillo paired with Ibatoulline’s luminous paintings, will leave no reader – child or adult – unmoved.”—Child
“Bagram Ibatoulline’s exquisite illustrations cast a warm light across this . . . tale by one of today’s most admired writers for children.”—Wall Street Journal
Interviews
An Interview with the Author Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo published her first book with Candlewick Press, Because of Winn-Dixie, while she was working at a used bookstore in Minnesota. It was awarded a Newbery Honor. Her third book, The Tale of Despereaux, was the Newbery Medal winner. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is the fifth book she has written for Candlewick Press.
Q. Where did you get the idea for writing a book about a large china rabbit?
A. A friend gave me a very elegant rabbit “doll” (sorry, Edward) for Christmas a couple of years ago. Not long after receiving the rabbit, I had this very clear image of him underwater, on the bottom of the sea, minus all of his finery, lost and alone.
Q. Abilene’s grandmother, Pellegrina, is not happy with Edward. “You disappoint me,” she tells him. What does she expect of Edward?
A. Edward is, in many ways, Pellegrina’s creation, and because of that her expectations for him are huge. She perceives, quite clearly, that he has failed at the simple and impossible task he was created for: loving Abilene as she loves him.
Q. Are there any other books that inspired you in the writing of this one?
A. I wasn’t thinking particularly of other books when I was writing Edward, but looking back, I can see that I was influenced by some pretty powerful stories: The Mouse and His Child, Pinocchio, Winnie-the-Pooh, Alice in Wonderland. I can see the influence of all of those masterpieces in my small story.
Q. Did any of this book come from your own childhood?
A. Everything that I write comes from my childhood in one way or another. I am forever drawing on the sense of mystery and wonder and possibility that pervaded that time of my life.
Q. What was a defining moment, good or bad, that shaped you as a child?
A. My father leaving the family certainly shaped who I was and how I looked at the world. By the same token, my father telling me fairy tales that he had made up shaped me profoundly, too. As did my mother reading to me.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for engaging and motivating young readers? Do you have any advice for classroom teachers or parents?
A. The best thing I know to tell parents and teachers about motivating young readers is that reading should not be presented to them as a chore, a duty. It should, instead, be offered as a gift: Look, I will help you unwrap this miraculous present. I will show you how to use it for your own satisfaction and education and deep, intense pleasure. It distresses me that parents insist that their children read or make them read. I think the best way for children to treasure reading is for them to see the adults in their lives reading for their own pleasure.