We’ve read a handful of chapter books together. While the kids do their art projects or eat lunch, I always have a longer book to read out loud. But, I don’t think they’ve ever been quite as taken as they were with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Our younger kiddo (4) would fall asleep after asking more questions about “Edward’s new friends.” I’ve never seen either kid so truly invested in a longer story. They felt Edward’s pain, they celebrated when Edward was with someone he loved.
Usually, the chapter books I select are ones I’ve read before. This one, I had not. It was a journey for me, as well. No spoilers, but I basically yelled the last page and there were tears in my eyes. Our older kid (6) yelled with happiness, and the younger one hugged me and said, “we did it, we finished it! We did it, mama!”
I’m so grateful we have been able to share these new routines, these sweet strands of thread that pull our days together.
I do want to give you a heads up that the book does touch on death and substance abuse (briefly and my kids didn’t dwell on it).
I checked for more of Kate DiCamillo’s books in the library and placed holds on a few. I miss that Edward already. If you’re down for this journey… here is the (paid) link. The paperback is super reasonably priced, and the Kindle version is really similarly priced (and uh, obvs, you can grab it now and start tonight).
Please comment any book suggestions you might have, knowing that we fell madly in love with this beautiful story.
