The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

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Description:

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 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 bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. Along the way, we are shown a miracle — that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.

Age Recommendation: 9-12, 3rd-5th Grade

General Content:

Language: 1/10- Little derogatory language/ references, mostly terms like "shut up" and name-calling.

Alcohol & Drugs: 2/10- A fisherman often smokes a pipe. Mentions of a dad being drunk.

Violence & Gore: 5/10- An instance of child abuse (physical & emotional), bullies throughout the novel, a couple of mentions of death.

Sexual Content: 0/10- No sexual content.

Parent Guide:

Tropes: How to love others and be loved. Overcoming pride by learning about love, compassion, and loss. Involuntary transformation, cursed to learn a lesson.

Ch. 2

-Edward has a shot taken to his ego as a house maid vacuums him and then tosses him on a shelf where he waits next to the dolls that twittered and giggled at him “like a flock of demented and unfriendly birds”.

Ch. 4

-Edward’s owner, a child named Abilene, is told a bedtime story by her grandmother. This story is about a “beautiful princess who loved no one and cared nothing for love”. When the king forces her to marry, she takes the engagement ring, swallows it, and runs away. She stumbles upon a house deep in the forest and walks in. She is greeted by a mean witch. The witch is disappointed that the princess loves no one and turns her into a warthog. The king’s men shoot the warthog and bring it back to the castle for a feast. When they open it up to cook it, they find the beautiful engagement ring in the belly. The end.

Ch. 5

-Abilene’s grandmother says goodbye as the family sails away. She“stares straight at Edward” as her “dark eyes glowed”.

-Two boys pick on Abilene; they mock Edward’s clothes, and then proceed to take him from her. They remove all his clothes, even his underwear. Abilene tackles one of the boys to get him back, and Edward goes overboard.

Ch. 7

-Edward thinks to himself that Abilene’s grandma may be the witch from the story. She feels like she’s punishing him.

Ch. 8

-Once on land, the old fisherman “stopped to light a pipe, and then, with the pipe clenched between his teeth, he walked home…”. The fisherman smokes his pipe a couple of other times in this chapter and the next.

Ch. 9

-The old Fisherman’s wife tells Edward about her children, one of which passed away at 5 from pneumonia: “‘He drowned inside of himself,’ said Nellie. ‘It is a horrible, terrible thing, the worst thing, to watch somebody you love die right in front of you and not be able to do nothing about it.’”.

Ch. 10

-The Fisherman’s daughter dislikes how her parents treat Edward, ‘Got the old folks bewitched, don’t you?’ she asks Edward. She proceeds to throw him away.

Ch. 13

-A homeless man, named Bull, and his dog find Edward at the dump. Edward travels with them for years. The author often refers to the other homeless people as “tramps”.

-Bull makes Edward new clothes: “‘Now you have the proper outlaw look,’ said Bull, standing back to admire his work. ‘Now you look like a rabbit on the run.’”.

Ch. 14

-“He’s [Edward] listening to every dang word”.

-The homeless men often talk to Edward about their children that they “left behind”.

-Bull and his dog are sleeping in an empty freight train trailer until one of the workers discovers them. The worker comes in, shines his flashlight in the face, and kicks Bull awake: “‘You bum’, he said, ‘you dirty bum. I’m sick of you guys sleeping everywhere. This ain’t no motel.’ Bull sat up slowly. Lucy [Bull’s dog] started to bark. ‘Shut up,’ said the man. He delivered a swift kick to Lucy’s side that made her yelp in surprise”. The man then grabs Edward and kicks him out of the moving train.

Ch. 15

-An old woman finds Edward and hangs him on a cross-like pole to use him as a scarecrow.

Ch. 17

-A little boy named Bryce [8] saves Edward from being a scarecrow and brings him home to his sick little sister (Sarah Ruth). Bryce tells Edward that his father broke his sister’s last treasured baby doll: “‘He broke it. He was drunk and stepped on that baby’s head and smashed it to pieces’".

-The father tells Bryce that he will not buy his sister a new toy because “she ain’t gonna live”.

Ch. 18

-The father arrives to find Sarah Ruth with Edward and is upset. Bryce stands up for his sister, to which the father responds with “don’t you sass me”. He raises his hand and slaps Bryce across the mouth, and then leaves. Bryce tells Edward that his dad is a “big bully” and that he “don’t hardly ever come home”.

Ch. 19

-“Sarah Ruth got worse. In the fifth month, she refused to eat. And in the sixth month, she began to cough up blood. Her breathing became ragged and uncertain…on a bright morning in September, Sarah Ruth stopped breathing. ‘Oh no,’ said Bryce. ‘Oh, honey, take a little breath. Please.’…Edward listened as Bryce wept. He listened as the father came home and shouted at Bryce. He listened as the father wept”.

-Bryce and his father fight over who will bury Sarah Ruth; the father wins. Bryce takes Edward, leaves home, and decides to head to Memphis.

Ch. 20

-Bryce makes Edward dance while playing his harmonica on a street corner to earn some money. A man stops to watch; “’ It’s a sin to dance,’ he said. ‘It’s a particular sin for rabbits to dance’”.

Ch. 21

-Bryce goes to a dinner with the money earned on the street, he orders and eats, only to realize he doesn’t have enough money. Bryce pays what he can and brings Edward to dance for the owner, hoping it will cover his bill. The owner angrily grabs Edward and slams him across the counter. Edward breaks.

Ch. 25

-A doll tells Edward to “shoo”, that he’s in the wrong place, as he’s in a shop for elegant dolls. She tells him, “I hope you don’t think anyone is going to buy you”.

Ch. 26

-After being in the doll shop for so long, Edward is discouraged. He has been loved before and doesn’t know if he will ever experience love again. He tells this to another doll, and she responds with this: “‘You disappoint me greatly. If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless. You might as well leap from this shelf right now and let yourself shatter into a million pieces. Get it over with. Get it all over with now.’ ‘I would leap if I was able,’ said Edward. ’Shall I push you?’ Said the doll. ’No, thank you,” Edward said to her. ’Not that you could,’”.