The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The china rabbit’s heart had begun, again, to open.

27

SEASONS PASSED, FALL AND WINTER and spring and summer. Leaves blew in through the open door of Lucius Clarke’s shop, and rain, and the green outrageous hopeful light of spring. People came and went, grandmothers and doll collectors and little girls with their mothers.

Edward Tulane waited.

The seasons turned into years.

Edward Tulane waited.

He repeated the old doll’s words over and over until they wore a smooth groove of hope in his brain: Someone will come; someone will come for you.

And the old doll was right.

Someone did come.

It was springtime. It was raining. There were dogwood blossoms on the floor of Lucius Clarke’s shop.

She was a small girl, maybe five years old, and while her mother struggled to close a blue umbrella, the little girl walked around the store, stopping and staring solemnly at each doll and then moving on.

When she came to Edward, she stood in front of him for what seemed like a long time. She looked at him and he looked back at her.

Someone will come, Edward said. Someone will come for me.

The girl smiled and then she stood on her tiptoes and took Edward off the shelf. She cradled him in her arms. She held him in the same ferocious, tender way Sarah Ruth had held him.

Oh, thought Edward, I remember this.

“Madam,” said Lucius Clarke, “could you please attend to your daughter. She is holding a very fragile, very precious, quite expensive doll.”

“Maggie,” said the woman. She looked up from the still-open umbrella. “What have you got?”

“A rabbit,” said Maggie.

“A what?” said the mother.

“A rabbit,” said Maggie again. “I want him.”

“Remember, we’re not buying anything today. We’re looking only,” said the woman.

“Madam,” said Lucius Clarke, “please.”

The woman came and stood over Maggie. She looked down at Edward.

The rabbit felt dizzy.

He wondered, for a minute, if his head had cracked open again, if he was dreaming.

“Look, Mama,” said Maggie, “look at him.”

“I see him,” said the woman.

She dropped the umbrella. She put her hand on the locket that hung around her neck. And Edward saw then that it was not a locket at all. It was a watch, a pocket watch.

It was his watch.

“Edward?” said Abilene.

Yes, said Edward.

“Edward,” she said again, certain this time.

Yes, said Edward, yes, yes, yes.

It’s me.

Coda

ONCE, THERE WAS A CHINA RABBIT WHO was loved by a little girl. The rabbit went on an ocean journey and fell overboard and was rescued by a fisherman. He was buried under garbage and unburied by a dog. He traveled for a long time with the hoboes and worked for a short time as a scarecrow.

Once, there was a rabbit who loved a little girl and watched her die.

The rabbit danced on the streets of Memphis. His head was broken open in a diner and was put together again by a doll mender.

And the rabbit swore that he would not make the mistake of loving again.

Once there was a rabbit who danced in a garden in springtime with the daughter of the woman who had loved him at the beginning of his journey. The girl swung the rabbit as she danced in circles. Sometimes, they went so fast, the two of them, that it seemed as if they were flying. Sometimes, it seemed as if they both had wings.

Once, oh marvelous once, there was a rabbit who found his way home.

About the Authors

KATE DICAMILLO

is the author of many beloved 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, which was a National Book Award Finalist; the best-selling Mercy Watson series; and The Magician’s Elephant. About The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, she says, “One Christmas, I received an elegantly dressed toy rabbit as a gift. A few days later, I dreamed that the rabbit was facedown on the ocean floor — lost and waiting to be found. In telling the story, I was lost for a good while, too. And then, finally, like Edward, I was found.” Kate DiCamillo lives in Minneapolis.

BAGRAM IBATOULLINE

is the illustrator of Crossing by Philip Booth; The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Stephen Mitchell; The Animal Hedge by Paul Fleischman; Hana in the Time of the Tulips by Deborah Noyes; The Serpent Came to Gloucester by M. T. Anderson; The Tinderbox by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Stephen Mitchell; and Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo. About The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, he says, “It was a singular experience to work on the illustrations for Edward Tulane and to be there with him on his journey. I must admit, I was a bit wistful when I came to the end of the road on this very special book.”

Also by Kate DiCamillo:

Because of Winn-Dixie

The Magician’s Elephant

The Tale of Despereaux

The Tiger Rising

Mercy Watson to the Rescue

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride