The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Above: Jeff and our friend Ray, in Sugar Cafe (942 Queen St. W. 416.532.5088) Sunday morning.

Went for my first run of the season! I LOVE running in this neighbourhood. No inhaling of exhaust fumes from traffic under the Gardiner Expressway. Trees and houses instead of skyscrapers and concrete. And no more dodging of cigarette smoke as I run past clusters of smokers frantically getting in a few puffs during their sidewalk breaks during the day. It's also much hillier than my old neighbourhood; I could feel it in my calves this morning. I wasn't nearly as sore as I expected, though, so I guess all the power walking I did during the winter paid off. :-)

Looks like spring's on its way! Check out the new sedum in our garden:



And buds on our white lilac tree:



This time last year, we had signed the papers for the house but still didn't have possession yet. We had two official "visits" to the house for measuring, etc., and each time I remember walking around the garden, drinking in as much as I could so I could take the memory back with me to our condo.



So last night I read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane which was written by Kate Dicamillo (author of Because of Winn-Dixie) and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, a book lent to my one of my nieces. I had seen the book in The Flying Dragon bookshop but wasn't that intrigued. The premise, after all, sounded cliched and uninteresting: a toy rabbit gets lost and has adventures.

When I started reading it, however, I was immediately captured by the author's lyrical style. Then I got pulled in by the story and especially by the main character. Yes, the rabbit.

Warning: this is not a particularly happy book, and I would hesitate about recommending it to very young children. It's the type of book that would appeal to an adult on a far different and potentially deeper level than it would to a child (though my 11-year-old niece quite enjoyed it as well).

I found the writing is so beautiful and story so compelling that I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. Something about the characters and the truths discovered by the rabbit in the story affected me pretty deeply; I found myself crying (and I mean crying, not just getting teary-eyed) by the end. A friend of mine read the book, however, and wasn't all that moved; clearly the story will affect people in different ways.

A SURVEY: Has a book ever made you cry? If so, what was the last book you read that made you cry?

Three days until FilKONtario!

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