Summary: "Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories."
Strengths: This beautifully, but simply written story tells an interesting tale with a wonderful message of the power of love. Children may be able to relate to both Edward, the rabbit, and Abilene, the girl who loves him. The simple pictures at the beginning of each chapter provide a clue to what will happen in the chapter. I also like the various full pages of color illustrations throughout the book. The dialogue and thoughts of the characters show some humor and show how Edward learns a lot from listening to the stories of the people he meets. I like that the book is wider than most books and that the text is very spaced out. The plot and how Edward moves from place to place keeps the story fast paced and keeps the reader's attention. I especially love the last chapter of the book and the coda.
Concerns: Edward learns about the lives of the people whom he meets, some of whom have very sad stories, such as death, homelessness, and abuse.
Classroom Use/Other Comments: Children aged 8 and up would enjoy this book. Teachers could begin with a picture walk to predict what will happen in the book. The simple text would allow upper elementary readers to read this by themselves and the book would also be excellent read aloud. Teachers could use this as an introduction to the journey of characters. A lot of interesting vocabulary is used in the book, so it can be used as a tool to expand vocabulary, with words such as "conquering (p. 61)" or "callused (p. 61)". In addition, as the number of days Edward is in each location is told, a math lesson could be incorporated in addition to discover how many days, weeks, months, and years have passed.
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