The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo Boys and girls alike will be drawn into this poignant adventure story set in North America. Through a roller coaster of
emotions, Edward, a china rabbit, experiences wildly different settings, identities and owners, thereby gradually learning
the value of love and friendship. Edward’s often harrowing experiences help shape him from a vain, pompous creature
into a thoughtful, considerate friend.
The narrative structure is carefully crafted and the characters and settings are well drawn, offering young readers a good
model for their own story planning and descriptive writing. Children can also be encouraged to look for examples of
American vocabulary, grammar and spelling. The theme of friendship can be explored in PHSE lessons and The Mocking
Bird song included as part of the music curriculum.
The generous layout of the book with its wide line spacing and delicate illustrations helps to make the text less dense and
thereby accessible to a wide range of readers.
See also Despereaux, Because of Win Dixie (+ film)
Overall learning aims of this teaching sequence:
To read and discuss a book that is set in another country, exploring the themes of friendship and loyalty;
Appreciating how a character changes through the course of a story;
Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its
structure, vocabulary and grammar;
Progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures;
Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements.
This teaching sequence is designed for a Year 3 or Year 4 class.
Overview of this teaching sequence.
This teaching sequence is approximately 3 -4 weeks long if spread over 15 – 20 sessions.
National Curriculum 2014
Reading: (Word reading / Comprehension) Read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks. Identify and discuss themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing. Prepare poems and plays to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone and volume so that the meaning is clear to an audience. Draw inferences such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence. Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader.
Writing: (Transcription / Composition) Identify the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own. Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning. Evaluate and edit by assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing. Evaluate and edit proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning. Perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that meaning is clear.
Speaking and Listening: Articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions; Use spoken language to develop understanding through imagining and exploring ideas in role play drama; Select and use appropriate registers for effective communication.
Cross Curricular Links Art and Design:
Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording experiences.
Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques. Music:
Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions.
Teaching Approaches Reading aloud and rereading Comparison charts Storyboards ‘Tell me’ Drama and Role play Role on the wall Reading journals Writing in role Visualising Shared writing
Writing Outcomes Poetry Story maps Instructions Writing in role Character descriptions Narrative descriptions Diary entry Autobiography
Teaching Sessions
Session 1: Looking at an illustration, visualising and ‘Tell me’ Learning Objective: Children will respond to the illustration; considering the character, questions raised by it and predictions for the story.
Before the session print copies of the ‘Tell me’ illustration of Edward Tulane. Do not hand it out.
Read aloud the first chapter, ask the children to listen out for information they learn about Edward Tulane e.g. handmade silks suits, sits with family at the table.
Hand out the Edward Tulane cover ‘Tell me’ frame and allow time for the children, in small groups or pairs, to write the things they remember around the image. Ask them what they like, dislike, what they know about Edward and what they want to find out more about.
Re-read the descriptive passages from pages 13 – 15 again. Allow time for the children to add details they may have missed to their frames.
Display these predictions along with their ‘Tell me’ responses on the working wall or collect in a class reading journal.
Session 2: Role on the wall, predictions and reading journals Learning Objectives: inferring characters feelings, thoughts and motives, and predicting what might happen from details shared and implied
Draw around a child on a large sheet of paper and add rabbit ears to the outline. Use role on the wall to collect words and phrases that describe what we know about how Edward looks around the outside of the outline. Add words or phrases that describe his feelings on the inside. Display this in the classroom. Add to this as the story progresses through the teaching sequence.
Re-read Chapter 1 from p16 ‘Abilene’s parents found it charming …’ to the end of the chapter.
Pellegrina is instrumental to the plot therefore it is useful to think about her here and set up predictions as to whether or not she is a likeable character and what she means by ‘Soon, soon there will be a story.’
Make predictions about how the story might progress.
Jot down children’s responses to his character in class journal
Display the image of Edward on the chair from the fly leaf before the title page of the book. This could be the start of a visual storyboard, which can be added to as the teaching sequence progresses.
Session 3: Read aloud, hot seating, writing in role Learning Objectives: Children will respond to visual information and consider the feelings of the main protagonist, then respond in role
Display the illustration of the Rosie, the next-door neighbour’s dog from p23. Add it to your class visual storyboard at the end of the session.
Children respond to what they see. What do you think is happening here? Why? Make inferences and deductions using the visual information. Share these verbally or record them on a flip chart or in their reading journals.
Read Chapter 2. This chapter further illustrates Edward’s ego and self-preoccupation, and shares some of the domestic dramas of his everyday life.
Talk partners can discuss what they think the worst thing that happened to him is and why.
Hot seat ‘Edward’, asking him about his reactions to some of the domestic dramas he has experienced e.g. Rosie shaking Edward and drooling over him, Mother calling him ‘it’, Maid calling him bunny, putting him with the dolls on the shelf, etc
Draft a short diary entry as Edward, describing one of the domestic dramas and your feelings about them. Edit this with a response partner and then an editing partner. Response partners should only comment on how the writing affects them as a reader – what words/phrases are effective, how it could be improved for impact, etc. Editing partners can respond with reference to spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.
Session 4: Role play and responding with poetry Learning Objectives: Children will describe the feelings and thoughts of the character and write poetry in response
Recall the events of Chapter 2. What can you remember? Why did this happen? What happened next?
Refer to the flip charts, diary entries and reading journal notes where appropriate.
In groups of 3, role play one of the domestic drama situations from the chapter. While the children play out the events, move around the groups and ask questions to get them thinking about what the characters are feeling and thinking.
Children can write words and phrases to describe feelings and thoughts on separate post-it notes.
Collect the post-it notes on two charts – one for feelings and one for thoughts. Sort these for the different domestic dramas that take place.
Choose one word or phrase from the feeling chart and write this to form the first line of a poem. Choose a word or phrase from the thoughts chart to form the next line of the poem. Continue this alternating pattern of lines until the poem feels finished. Give it a suitable title that describes the domestic drama it represents.
The children could create their own poems using the same structure. They could extend lines to include a little more description, a well selected simile or metaphor, or to include some onomatopoeia.
Session 5-6: Read aloud and storyboard Learning Objectives: Children will retell the story within the story and compare it to other familiar stories
Display the picture of Pellegrina, Abilene and Edward from page 37. What is Pellegrina doing in this picture? What else can you see? Draw their attention to the raised finger if they don’t notice it. What does this body language tell us? Add the picture to your class visual storyboard at the end of the session.
Read chapters 3 and 4.
This is an example of a story within a story. Talk partners can share their thoughts about the events in Pellegrina’s story of the Princess. What happens? Why? Think about cause and ‘consequences’ and the correlation between this story and what we know about Edward already. Who is the princess like? Who is the witch like?
Children could compare this story to others they know – what kind of story is this? What is the moral or message of the story? What can we learn from it?
Pairs of children can take turns retelling Pellegrina’s story to each other, adding details and securing the order of the events in it.
Storyboard Pellegrina’s story on long sheets of paper or use any storyboarding technique the children are familiar with to rewrite their own version, bringing in the features of fairy tales.
Session 7: Write in role and prediction Learning Objectives: Children will consider character’s feelings and write in role, with reference to information from the text. Children will predict where the story will head next.
Read the first paragraphs of Chapter 5 up to ‘Shall we pack it?’
Talk partners should discuss what they would be feeling if they moved to another country. What would they miss? What would worry them? What would they look forward to?
Think about what you would pack to take on a voyage to another country. In small groups, children list all the items they can think of on a sheet of A3.
Next, ask them to reduce their list to the 5 most important items. They will need to discuss their choices, justifying their inclusion in the group’s final list.
Record the group’s ideas on what they would pack for Edward if he was travelling with them.
Read the rest of the chapter. In talk partners, discuss the events of the end of the chapter and predict what might happen next. Each pair can record their prediction/s on post-it notes. Add these to your working wall or class reading journal.
Session 8: Text marking and Readers theatre Learning Objectives: Children will prepare a readers theatre script to read aloud, considering the author’s use of language and description to portray meaning.
Talk partners should remind themselves of the events of Chapter 5.
Using an enlarged copy of the text or visualised on the IWB, work collaboratively and mark up the text to show the parts the narrators and characters will read, highlighted in different colours and coded with initials to show who is speaking (from ‘Two young boys..’ p47 to the middle of p48 ‘and roll merrily toward Abilene’s feet.’)
Narrator 1 Narrator 2 – narrates how ET is feeling Abilene Amos Martin
In addition to identifying the different parts being spoken, Readers theatre involves considering how the text needs to be performed. Once the text is marked up arrange the class into 5 groups. Allocate each group to one part. Consider what the author is expressing in this scene and how that might be portrayed in the reading.
As a whole class, conduct a shared reading with each group reading aloud their particular part of the text.
Distribute individual copies of the rest of the chapter for the children to mark up in their groups. They need to decide how they will perform the text, e.g. which parts they want to emphasise, repeat, speak in unison or underpin with appropriate gestures.
Give children an opportunity to fine tune their scripts and rehearse for a final performance.
Session 9: Storyboards Learning Objectives: Children will consider the plot development and map the story, identifying the main events, characters and settings
Add the image of Edward sinking from page 55 to your visual storyboard. What will happen to him now? Look back at the predictions made in session 6 and amend these as appropriate.
The children should listen out for clues as to what Edward is thinking and feeling – these can be added to the role on the wall from session 2. Ask a class teaching assistant to photograph the children’s reactions as you read.
Read Chapter 6 and 7.
Collect responses and reactions to the turn of events using the response frame. Display these on the working wall or in the class reading journal.
Map the story so far, adding character names, locations and any other related information. The children should now have a good handle on the beginnings of this complex story, and additional characters, locations and information can be added to these story maps as the rest of the story unfolds.
Have the children add character names and important information to the class visual storyboard.
Session 10: Role on the wall and writing in role Learning Objectives: Children will summarise the information from the text, identifying character development and the growing complexity of the story.
Read Chapters 8 to 10.
Talk partners should discuss what we know about the different characters e.g. Nellie: she has her sadness – why does Nellie say: I don’t want nothing from the sea? Refer to the visual storyboard and add any new characters and information to it. Children might like to add labels to the images on the class storyboard to help them to remember new characters as they are introduced.
Add changes in Edward’s appearance to the outside of the role on the wall from session 2. Have his thinking or feelings changed? Add this to the inside of the outline. Use separate colours to denote his change to Susanna.
Share ideas from talk partners and comparisons from the updated role on the wall. Shared write the beginnings of a letter home to Abilene. What features of a letter should be included? What elements of the story so far should we include?
Write in role as Susanna, a letter home to Abilene. What does Susanna remember of Abilene and home? What is life like now? What has happened to her?
Alternatively, write a journal entry in the role of Susanna, expressing her thoughts about her owners and life at this moment in time.
Session 11: Read aloud, writing in role and poetry Learning Objectives: Children will explore a character’s feelings, responding to the story through poetry
Read Chapters 11 and 12.
Talk partners discuss why Edward found being left on the rubbish dump ‘worse, much worse, than being buried at sea.’ Consider the sentence, ‘It was worse because Edward was a different rabbit now.’ Why has Kate DiCamillo included this sentence? What does she mean by it?
Edward has learned a lesson about himself through his current situation. On a flip chart collect ideas about the feelings Edward has thinking about Nellie, Lawrence, Lolly, Abilene and Pellegrina. Find examples in the text that support these ideas.
Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td4xbl1D_d8 [Accessed September 2014] which shows a landfill site in operation. Consider how it might feel to be there – the sounds, smells and feeling on your skin. How would it feel to be buried in this?
Arrange children into five groups. Each group will consider what it would be like for Edward buried in the rubbish dump using one of the 5 senses. Make collections of words, phrases, sentences, similes and metaphors around each sense. You might like to rotate the created vocabulary banks around the groups, to read and add to.
Model the creation of a sense poem. Select a word, phrase or sentence from one of the senses. Alternate each sense with a thought or memory about one of the 5 characters. Discuss the selection and editing process you undertake as a writer.
Children can then write their own sense poems and could extend each sense with a simile or metaphor.
Publish the poems for display using recycled materials to create a rubbish dump display. Children might write their poem on scrunched paper placed inside a plastic bottle, write on various types of packaging using a permanent marker or on paper reproductions of food waste such as banana peels.
Session 12: Shared writing, song lyrics and instruction writing Learning Objectives: Children will listen and respond to poetry in different forms, considering the relationship between two characters
Listen to examples of Hobo Ballads, such as http://youtu.be/5fAjZj_yiK8 and http://youtu.be/FmhuIZFwTaY
Display the image of Bull with Edward sticking out of his bedroll from page 99 and read Chapters 13 and 14.
Children in groups of 3 discuss the image and what it tells us about their relationship. They could record their ideas by annotating the Bull and Edward frame. List their feelings about each other and any information about their journey or their wishes for the future, either direct from the text or inferred and deduced.
Listen to http://youtu.be/aGpHP95Pl60. This short piece of music, entitled ‘Hobo Blues’ describes life on the road.
Model free-verse that could form lyrics to the piece of music, describing Bull and Edwards’s journey and their relationship. The children could share their ideas to form a collaborative class version or they could write their own ideas in their groups and share these back to collaborate on the final version.
Learn the lyrics to perform at a final assembly for the teaching sequence. Additionally, you might extend the sequence here. The children could write instructions for packing up a bedroll. Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7386_TVsxZge or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0U9efRJw6w [Accessed September 2014] and consider what items they think they would need or want to pack. In groups, list possible items. Discuss, justify and select the 5 most important items they would include and think about how they would be packed safely. You could provide a range of items for the bedroll in the book corner and children could work in pairs to pack and roll the bedroll using the instructions they write.
Session 13: Hot seating and writing in role Learning Objectives: Children will reflect on a character’s prior actions and feelings and write a letter in role expressing these feelings Edward has been forcibly separated from Bull and Lucy when he is discovered by a railway guard and thrown out of the railway car.
Hot seat Edward. How does he feel? Is there anything he wishes he could say to Bull and Lucy?
Display the image from page 107 on the IWB to remind the children about where he has been and his feelings of loneliness now that he has been separated from them.
In pairs, in role as Edward, children tell each other what they would like to say: e.g. reminiscing about the good times they experienced together, thanking Bull for the way he took care of Edward, carrying him in his bedroll etc
In role as Edward, the children to write a letter to Bull and Lucy. Use a crumpled piece of paper. Display these, either on the working wall or in the class reading journal.
Session 14: Read aloud, biographical writing and obituaries Learning Objectives: Children will extend their storyboards to show the growing complexity of the story and explore a setting in the story through advertising posters
Read Chapters 15 – 19, where Edward meets a number of new characters. (Note to teachers: be prepared for the emotion evoked in chapter 19 when Sarah Ruth dies.)
Talk partners discuss these encounters and add character labels to the class visual storyboard. How does Edward relate to each of these characters? What has he learned? Consider how his character has developed through the story.
As a class, complete a character graph showing how Edward’s character has changed over time, through the arc of the story.
Depending on the emotional maturity and experiences of the children in the class they might explore farewell, commemorative or memorial speeches, perhaps in the form of obituaries. Think about the kinds of things we remember and celebrate about someone – their early experiences, relationships with other people, their achievements, etc. This could be linked with cross-curricular work in PSHE (Going for goals, celebrating success, etc) or RE (Exploring celebrations in different faiths, etc)
Alternatively, the children could create a This is your life book for themselves or one of the characters (http://www.bigredbook.info/) [Accessed September 2014] and explore the features of biographical writing.
You might also extend the sequence here to create advertising fliers and posters for the Old Woman’s farm. What is the name of the farm? What types of vegetables does she sell? The children could make a collection of leaflets and fliers from local farmers’ market stalls to help inspire their writing.
Session 15: Personal narratives Learning Objectives: Children will consider the complex web of characters in the story and write in role as one of them, considering their relationship with the main protagonist.
Read Chapter 20 – 22.
Children in groups of 3 discuss how Edward’s current circumstances contrast with those at the beginning of the story. Refer back to the character graph. How has his character journey progressed since chapter 19?
Think about the other characters in the story. What do we know about them? How do they relate to the other characters? How have they changed and grown?
Choose one character and write a personal narrative about how they met (and/or lost) Edward from their point of view. How did they feel? Set the scene and think about what happened next. Did they try to find Edward?
In small groups, role play a scene between Edward and some of the other characters. One person in the group could record the words, phrases and ideas of the performers, or they might record their role-plays using digital means and listen back to these and take notes. Use the language built from the role play to inform the writing that they go on to do, adding in layers of emotion, feeling and description to make the writing more effective and purposeful.
Draft the personal narrative - which may take the form of a diary - and publish this as a mini book after editing and redrafting.
You might like to extend the teaching sequence here to allow time for the editing and redrafting which will lead to higher levels of outcome in the writing. The children could work in pairs with a response partner first, reflecting on the way the writing makes them feel and considering to what extent the writing has been effective. Later, they could work with their editing partner to proof-read and correct, add more elaborate vocabulary and check for effective use of grammar and punctuation.
Session 16: Personal responses through creative approaches Learning Objectives: Children will respond to the symbolism of the story through visualising and narrative writing
Re-read Chapter 22.
Talk partners should discuss the images and symbolism of this chapter. Listen to http://youtu.be/CN46iLWoHiw, an instrumental version of ‘Long, Long Journey’ by Enya, while they do this.
Share ideas, thoughts and feelings on a flip chart or the IWB. You could model how to take notes and group ideas together as new ideas are added.
Using chalks or pastels on black or a dark coloured paper draw Edward’s dream. What do his wings look like? How does he feel when he is flying? How do you think you can create the mood and feelings of the other characters in response to Edward’s flight?
Display finished artwork in a class gallery. Take a gallery walk around the displayed images. Use post-its to add words and phrases, or similes and metaphors that describe the mood and feelings in the images created.
Write a short narrative description of the dream sequence in your own words, using the images in the gallery stimulus. You might use ideas from more than one image, or choose someone else’s image to write about.
Session 17: Character reflections and autobiography Learning Objectives: Children will reflect on the character development of the main protagonist throughout the story and write in the role of this character.
Read to the end of the book - Chapters 23 – 27.
Write the question: Has Edward’s opinion of himself changed? On the IWB or flip chart.
Talk partners consider this question, referring to their previous work. They could cite examples from the text to justify their ideas and thoughts.
Write an autobiographical account, from Edward’s point of view, exploring his thoughts on what he has learned. This may take the form of a diary entry, completed the day after he goes home from the shop. Where does he go? What is it like there? How is he treated?
Session 18 and 19: Writing the next Chapter Learning Objectives: Children will consider the possibilities for a plausible next chapter using the information from the text. Children will publish the next chapter making using drafting and editing to help shape their work.
Consider Edward’s journey and how different his life is now, at the end of the book. What’s changed? What has stayed the same?
Discuss the possibilities for the future – what will Edward do next?
Shared write the beginnings of the next chapter to the story. Consider how he feels, where he sits, what he wears and what other toys or animals share his space in his new home.
Draft the first couple of paragraphs and edit these collaboratively. How can we make this chapter plausible and fit with the original story? What elements of the original story do we need to include? What can we change and ‘play’ with?
The children will then work in pairs to draft and edit their next chapters. These can be published as mini-books or shared in a class version of The Next Chapter of the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
Session 20: Story mapping and book trailers Learning Objectives: Children will create a book trailer using key information from the text
Using the information from the previous story maps, character grids, class reading journal and working wall, create a story map for a summary retelling of the story which aims to engage with readers and encourage them to read the book.
Watch the example of a student-created book trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmJgaMw5URg [Accessed September 2014]. What parts of the book have been included? What parts have been omitted? Why do you think the student decided to include the parts they did and left out the parts they didn’t?
Children in small groups, using video or cameras and software such as PowerPoint or iMovie, can create their own book trailer. Which parts of the story should you include? Why? How can you ensure you excite and enthuse your audience about the book without giving too much of the plot away?
You might like to extend the teaching sequence here, adding an additional session or two, to develop their book trailer towards a final presentation. Additional time might be needed for familiarisation with the software or to scaffold the independent work of the children, breaking the overall task into smaller, more manageable task, depending on their experience.
Add a music or spoken soundtrack to the trailer and share the finished trailers in a screening.
Have pairs of children critique the trailers, taking into account both the engagement with them as readers as well as their effectiveness a s a summary of the story.
Use and Application of Phonics and Spelling: The following words could be used to exemplify learning at phonic phases: Phase 5: /ai/ alternatives: /igh/ alternatives: For each of these, talk about the phonic patterns seen in the text. /ee/ alternatives: High Frequency Words: highlight these in the text you use and in the writing generated through the text. Spelling: ‘ed’ endings: (p22) referred, outraged, witnessed, stained, suffered, looked, etc ‘ing’ endings: suffering, needing, calling, mocking, listening, etc ‘-e’ then ‘+ing’: dining, giggling, experiencing, etc ‘double consonant’ then ‘+ing’ endings: sitting, stripping, digging, etc ‘+s’ plurals: employers, birds, dramas , etc ‘ly’ endings: immediately, unfriendly, cavalierly, excruciatingly, etc
