Read free book excerpt from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, Bagram Ibatoulline, plus multiple reviews, author biography & more
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
by Kate DiCamillo, Bagram Ibatoulline
Hardcover: Feb 2006,
228 pages.
Paperback: Jan 2008,
208 pages.
Only Abilene's grandmother spoke to him as Abilene did, as one equal to another.
Pellegrina was very old. She had a large, sharp nose and bright, black eyes that
shone like dark stars. It was Pellegrina who was responsible for Edward's
existence. It was she who had commissioned his making, she who had ordered his
silk suits and his pocket watch, his jaunty hats and his bendable ears, his fine
leather shoes and his jointed arms and legs, all from a master craftsman in her
native France. It was Pellegrina who had given him as a gift to Abilene on her
seventh birthday.
And it was Pellegrina who came each night to tuck Abilene into her bed and
Edward into his.
"Will you tell us a story, Pellegrina?" Abilene asked her grandmother each
night.
"Not tonight, lady," said Pellegrina.
"When?" asked Abilene. "What night?"
"Soon," said Pellegrina. "Soon there will be a story."
And then she turned off the light, and Edward and Abilene lay in the dark of the
bedroom.
"I love you, Edward," Abilene said each night after Pellegrina had left. She
said those words and then she waited, almost as if she expected Edward to say
something in return.
Edward said nothing. He said nothing because, of course, he could not speak. He
lay in his small bed next to Abilene's large one. He stared up at the ceiling
and listened to the sound of her breath entering and leaving her body, knowing
that soon she would be asleep. Because Edward's eyes were painted on and he
could not close them, he was always awake.
Sometimes, if Abilene put him into his bed on his side instead of on his back,
he could see through the cracks in the curtains and out into the dark night. On
clear nights, the stars shone, and their pinprick light comforted Edward in a
way that he could not quite understand. Often, he stared at the stars all night
until the dark finally gave way to dawn.
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