The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

By Kate DiCamillo

Hi! Do you have a loveable stuffed animal? And, to you, is this stuffed animal real? Well, Abilene does. She named her stuffed rabbit Edward – Edward Tulane. Abilene has a mother and a father. Neither of them believe Edward is real. She also has an old grandmother named Pellegrina. She both believes in and respects Edward. But Edward has this feeling about her – he doesn’t like Pellegrina. He compares the look that she gives him to a hawk hunting its prey.

Anyway, one night Pellegrina told Edward and Abilene a story. The story is about a princess that could not love. She got lost one day, and a witch told the princess that, since she could not love, she disappointed her. So, the witch turned the princess into a warthog, and later that day some hunters, sent by the king, killed her because they thought she was just a wild warthog. Pellegrina tucked Abilene into bed, told her she loved her, and then she went to Edward’s bed, and she told him these three words that sent shivers up his spine: you disappoint me. That was the exact same thing the witch had said to the princess. Before we continue, here’s something you should know about Edward: he was vain – very vain! He loved no one. So that’s how Edward relates to the princess in this story.

The next night, Abilene’s family, the Tulanes, figured out that they were going on a trip to England. Abilene took Edward along. When they were on the ship crossing to England, two boys got their hands on Edward. They started tossing him back and forth, but one boy missed his mark and threw Edward Tulane overboard. He stayed down there in the muck for quite a while, until he was taken up in an old fishing net by an old fisherman named Lawrence. He took Edward and started talking to him as if he were real. And then he started talking about Nellie and how Edward was going to love her.

When Edward got to Lawrence’s home, he met Lawrence’s wife, Nellie. Edward was a bit confused when meeting her, because she started talking about a girl: “She will look so beautiful in this dress!” and “She will need repairing, but I can fix her.” Soon Edward realized that the “she” Nellie was talking about was him! Nellie named Edward “Susanna.”

Life was nice and easy for Edward, Nellie and Lawrence until their daughter Lolly came. When Lolly arrived, she started acting cruelly to Edward, and all of a sudden, Edward’s new family had stopped caring for him. They weren’t being mean to him, but they just stopped caring for him. One day, Lolly told Edward that she had heard that her parents had grown to care for a pet rabbit. And so, she threw him into the garbage and took the garbage out to the dumpster.

What problem will Edward have to deal with next? Will somebody find him and keep him safe and sound? Will he stay in that dump forever? Or will he continue losing his family and friends and all those who have loved him and will love him? As I always say, read the book to find out!

I recommend this book to readers who love sad but exciting and adventurous stories. It will be amazing if you’re that type of person!

A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:

“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor):
There were no scary parts, but there was one main sad part that counts as “run and get mom.” There are many other sad parts throughout the book.

“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
There was no yucky-lovey stuff in this book.