Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a rabbit who was made almost entirely of china. He had china arms and china legs, china paws and a china head, a china torso and a china nose, His arms and legs were jointed and joined by wire so that his china elbows and chine knees could be bent, giving him much freedom of movement.
Edward Tulane is a toy rabbit. A doll. But don’t let him hear you say that. He doesn’t particularly like dolls, as he finds them “annoying and self-centred, twittery and vain.” As a rabbit made of china, he is obviously unable to move his arms and legs, to speak, or even to close his painted on eyes. But he can see, and hear, and think, and admire his own reflection.
Edward begins the story being cared for a by a ten year old girl called Abilene Tulane. But disaster strikes on a sea journey and Edward is sent overboard to lie face down on the bottom of the ocean. The following years see Edward in the hands of a fisherman’s wife, a hobo, a dying young girl, her musical brother and a toy repairer.
The miraculous journey of Edward Tulane is a fable. A story about love. About the importance of loving and being loved. The physical presentation of the book is quite lovely. A square format book, with not-white pages (buff? yellowed? cream, bone, ivory, off white, beige?), and a series of nice full page colour illustrations as well as smaller black and white ones. The story is lovely too. Edward’s journey and the repeated separations he faces are well written and evocative. The character of Edward is well developed too. Considering he is a china rabbit. I found myself feeling sympathy for his plight. A well written and well illustrated story.