« You disappoint me, » she said. « 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. » [The hundred year old doll to the china rabbit]
-The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo
I would never pick up and read a book about a china rabbit of my own free will. In fact, I am usually against books that have animals as characters, let alone toys. I find them precious and not a little bit boring. I am the type that likes a strong heroine, at least five car crashes, or at the very least some sort of ethical dilemna à la Lord Jim. Well, I was wrong. I admit it and am prepared to eat my words. Of course, I would never have read it if I did not have the onorous and not a little bit ridiculous task of compiling a bibliography on rabbit books for my work. So I picked this book up with an exasperated sigh worthy of any martyr who is forced to read material not of one’s choice. Soon though, I could not put it down. The statement, “They don’t pay me enough for this” soon became ” I am getting paid for this?”. The miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is heartbreaking and beautifully writtten and if you have a child in your life that is in need of a good present I would not hesitate to recommend this wonderful book. Why? Because it is not about the toy but about the people who own the toy and why they need him. There is trains, boats, hobos riding the rails, death and beauty in this little gem of a children’s novel. So that is why you should never judge a book by its cover. (Although it works for me most of the time…)
Lina Branter 