The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane

We have just finished another book entitled The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane. Kate DiCamillo, the author of The Tale Of Despereaux, wrote this book as well. I love her writing. She engages the reader in her stories quite easily and paints pictures in your mind. Her stories have purpose and depth. There are all kinds of messages in her writing. Different people will gain different things, but everyone will feel something upon reading her. She deals with real emotions and human experiences, not all are happy-as is life. Noelle cried as I read this book and I myself had to fight back tears.

I went online and did a search for a picture to put with this post and I came across a website with a teachers guide to go along with this novel. It contains questions you can discuss with the children you are teaching. In part of that guide there is a question and answer section, questions asked of Kate. It was nice to be able to read what she, as the author, had to say about certain plot lines and characters that she had created in her book. This book in many ways reminded me of our lives here on earth. The journey that we must all go through- a lot of it not so nice sometimes, but how we become the people we are, be it good or bad, and hopefully continue on to become the person we have the potential to be, if we allow ourselves to learn and grow along the way and when life beats us down, there is someone there to pick us back up and put us together again. I hope, as is the hope I hold for my children also, that I will be able to fulfill the purpose God has for me while on my own miraculous journey.

I also loved what she had to say about motivating young readers, since Darren and I as parents as following this philosophy with our children, in the hopes that they will learn to love reading and discover all the amazing works there are out there just waiting to be read.

Q. Abilene’s grandmother, Pellegrina, is not happy with Edward. “You disappoint me,” she

tells him. What does she expect of Edward?

A. Edward is, in many ways, Pellegrina’s creation, and because of that her expectations for

him are huge. She perceives, quite clearly, that he has failed at the simple and impossible

task he was created for: loving Abilene as she loves him.

Q. Do you have any suggestions for engaging and motivating young readers? Do you have

any advice for classroom teachers or parents?

A. The best thing I know to tell parents and teachers about motivating young readers is that

reading should not be presented to them as a chore, a duty. It should, instead, be offered as

a gift: Look, I will help you unwrap this miraculous present. I will show you how to use it

for your own satisfaction and education and deep, intense pleasure. It distresses me that

parents insist that their children read or make them read. I think the best way for children

to treasure reading is for them to see the adults in their lives reading for their own pleasure.

mommy had a baby and her head popped off

some things are timeless

Adding Pictures??

I got a new computer and I have absolutely no idea how to use it. This is the main reason I haven't been posting. I am getting backed up with entries and thought that I better go ahead and post and add the pictures later, when I figure out how to use this thing properly, either that or have my sister-in-law come over.