The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
A Review of Kate DiCamillo’s Fourth Book
Kate DiCamillo succeeds in writing yet another enchanting fairy tale with her fourth novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It is a story about learning to love and about the pain that accompanies the lesson. The similarity to Margery Williams classic The Velveteen Rabbit cannot be ignored. However, while the subject matter (a toy rabbit) and the lesson (the painful lessons of love) are similar. The stories are different and deserve to be considered as completely independent books, both of which, deserve their place in the realm of great children’s literature.
The Unlikable Rabbit
The book begins by sharing with the reader the details of Edward Tulane’s life before he begins his journey. He is a prima donna: a beautiful, bored, porcelain rabbit who belongs to a small girl named Abilene who loves him completely. However, it becomes clear that Edward feels that he deserves all regard and love that comes his way and that he doesn’t feel compelled to return that love. The reader also discovers that Edward was a special gift to Abilene from her grandmother Pellegrina who had him commissioned.
Shortly before Edward’s journey begins, Pellegrina deigns to tell her granddaughter a story at bedtime. She tells Edward and Abilene the story of a princess who never learns to love. It is a fairy tale with an unhappy ending. After sharing the story with her disappointed grandchild, Pellegrina takes Edward to his bed next to Abilene’s and whispers to him that “You disappoint me.”
Pellegrina becomes a disagreeable memory that acts almost as a conscious as Edward takes his long and exhausting journey of learning to love.
Darkness and Light
Edwards journey begins when the Tulane family sails on the Queen Mary and he falls overboard. From the moment he falls over board the story is filled with long segments of darkness and dirt interspersed with the quaint, eccentric people who teach Edward about love. Edward’s journey spans years – many of them find him alone in the darkness and the dirt.
It is a lesson that the book teaches well in the format of a fairy tale/novelette. It is a lesson that loses power when stated in a thesis sentence: “We cannot learn to love the light without the experiencing the contrasting pain and discouragement of the darkness.”
Darkness
DiCamillo writes believably about darkness, which is one of the elements in her books that some readers do not like. She tells it like it is and she doesn’t explain it away. Bad things happen. DiCamillo puts a period at the end of the bad event and moves on into the light. She doesn’t dwell on it or soften it.
However, for readers who understand and appreciate fairy tales. Her style is something that is not only appreciated but loved.
Light
DiCamillo’s books are books that teach children about some of the hardest truths in life. Truths that are hard to understand and hard to learn. She doesn’t spoon feed children. She treats them like intelligent human beings. Like Beatrix Potter she lets rabbits do foolish things, get hurt, and even die.
DiCamillo’s books are not for people who are afraid of fairy tales or nursery rhymes. Her books are not for people who shy away from the reality that people aren’t nice. However, for people who recognize that sugar-coated medicine helps make the tough things easier – her books are delightful. Her books deserve to be read by adults and children together so that they can travel together through dangerous territory and come out on the other side better and stronger.
DiCamillo, Kate. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Candlewick Press. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7636-2589-4
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