I stumbled across Kate DiCamillo's book "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulaine" by way of the amazing cover illustration by Bagram Ibatoulline. I would have bought the book just for it's cover and the exquisite illustrations within, but the story itself turned out to be the most memorable I'd read all year. It's basically about having everything, losing it, and finding your way back. I read this to my kids at bed time every night, and we were all sad when it was over.
We've since gone on to read most of the rest of DiCamillo's titles. My favorite besides "Edward" was "The Tale of Depereaux". Sadness, loss and redemption are the recurring themes in DiCamillo's stories, but not in the sugar coated Disney-esque sort of way. There are times when I'm reading this stuff to my kids that I think, "Geez, should I be reading this stuff to my kids?", but I've learned to trust the author and have faith in the humanity with which she writes.
No comments:
Post a Comment