The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

by Kate DiCamillo

“But answer me this: how can a story end happily if there is no love?

He thought about the stars. He remembered what they looked like from his bedroom window. What made them shine so brightly, he wondered, and were they still shining somewhere even though he could not see them?

He lay there, buried alive. He could not see the sky. He could not see the stars. He could see nothing.

Edward knew what it was like to say over and over again the names of those you had left behind. He knew what it was like to miss someone. And so he listened. And in his listening, his heart opened wide and then wider still.

It was a singular sensation to be held so gently and yet so fiercely, to be stared down at with so much love.

“You got to look for falling stars. Them are the ones with magic.”

He could fly anywhere, do anything. Why had he never realized it before? His heart soared inside of him.

“Where is your courage?”

If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless.

listening and love, of spells and curses.

What if there was somebody whom he would love again? Was it possible? Edward felt his heart stir.

“Open your heart,” she said gently. “Someone will come. Someone will come for you. But first you must open your heart.”

I will come home to you.