The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DICamillo

I came upon this book in an unusual manner--I was reading a collection of essays by Ann Patchett, in one of which she describes her discovery of the children's author Kate DiCamillo, who is someone that is well known to me but who I had never read one of her books before. Patchett started here and went on to read all of them, and so that is where I thought I too would start. It is a tale of the private lives of children's playthings (of which Toy Story is the gold standard when it comes to movie versions). Edward Tulane is a vain, self-absorbed three-foot-tall china rabbit from France who appears to have all he could want: fabulous clothes, a tiny gold pocket watch and a little girl, Abilene, who loves him. Then it all vanishes. When the family goes off on an ocean voyage, he ends up in the water. Unfortunately, Edward is a passive character, so he can neither walk nor talk. But he does think and observe and wonder. His subsequent journey through life encompasses several metamorphoses as a wide variety of owners adopt him and is the quiet kind of adventure that is quite enjoyable to read.