Hello, everybody.

It's great to be here with you.

My name is Ms. Afzal.

I'm feeling very excited today because we're gonna be exploring one of my favourite novels of all time.

It is "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

So I'm gonna pause for a moment now while you go off and get your copy.

That should look like this one here.

Look at that amazing front cover.

So off you go and get your copy.

Okay, so you're back.

You've got your copy of this fantastic novel.

Hopefully you've got lots of ideas, lots of curiosity, lots of enthusiasm for this exploration.

So let's begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can develop my own response to "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane." Here are the keywords that will be coming up in our lesson today.

Let's go through them one at a time.

My turn, your turn.

Character trait, coda, connection, recommendation.

Fantastic.

I heard those loud and clear.

Let's go through each of these words.

Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.

A coda is a concluding passage of text that adds closure to a piece of writing after the text's ending.

How a text relates to a reader, another text, or the wider world can be called a connection.

A recommendation is a suggestion for a text that is well suited to a reader's age and their interests.

I hope you'll look out for those words, listen out for them, think about them, be curious about them, and let's find out more about what's involved in today's lesson.

So there's two parts to our lesson.

First, we'll be exploring characters and relationships.

And next, we'll look at connections and recommendations.

First of all, characters and relationships.

"The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" is written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.

It's an illustrated chapter book with black and white pencil sketch vignettes.

And a vignette is a small focused illustration that might capture a specific moment.

At the beginning of the text, Edward is described as an exquisite china rabbit crafted with great care and attention to detail.

The text is set across the United States with Edward travelling through different places and experiencing different time periods as he's passed from owner to owner.

So here's my first question for you.

Who do you think the main characters in "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" are? Pause the video while you decide who you think the main characters are and share with someone nearby.

I'm wondering which characters you came up with.

Let's hear from Lucas.

We first meet Edward, a porcelain china rabbit and his owner, 10-year-old Abilene Tulane.

Yeah, crucial, crucial characters, key characters there.

And what about Laura? The other recurring characters, so recurring means they keep coming up again and again, are Pellegrina, Abilene's grandmother, Nellie and Lawrence, fisherpeople, and Bull, a homeless man and his dog, Lucy.

And Sam.

The final owners of Edward are brother and sister Bryce and Sarah Ruth.

Bryce is taking care of his sister who is unwell.

Lucius Clarke, a doll mender, repairs Edward when he's broken.

Okay, thank you for sharing those.

Edward begins the text as a not very likeable character.

He ends it completely changed.

Yeah, what a transformation.

How would you describe Edward at the beginning of the text, in the middle and at the end? What character traits and emotions does he show? Pause the video now while you share your responses to these questions with someone nearby.

Okay, let's take a look.

Edward Tulane.

So here he is at the beginning.

He is selfish.

He's only caring for his appearance and status as a cherished possession.

Later, he begins to empathise with others.

That means he's beginning to understand and have feeling for others.

He starts to care for their wellbeing.

Later still, Edward feels warmth in his heart when he's comforted by Sarah Ruth.

And later still, Edward is hopeful.

His heart is described as open.

What a transformation from the start of this novel.

Check for understanding.

Match the following characters to their description in the text.

So we have Lucius Clarke, Bull and Pellegrina Tulane and here are the descriptions of them.

Sings Edward lots of songs.

Their friends tell Edward the names of their children who they miss.

Repairs and sells antique dolls.

They're very protective over them.

Commissioned Edward to be made for their granddaughter.

So pause the video while you match the characters to their description in the text.

Well done if you match Lucius Clarke to the description of the person that repairs and sells the dolls.

Bull sings Edward lots of songs and Pellegrina is the one that commissioned Edward to be made.

At the beginning of the text, Pellegrina tells Abilene an interesting story about a beautiful princess.

It ends quite differently to how Abilene and the reader expect.

Refer to pages 35 to 40 now.

What do you think is the significance of the story told by Pellegrina to Abilene and Edward? So significance means like importance.

So pause the video while you refer to those pages and discuss this question with someone nearby.

I wonder if you came up with something like this.

The princess is punished for not loving anyone.

The story is told to Edward to perhaps get him to reconsider his view on love.

The story Pellegrina tells has lots of features of a fairytale, but the ending is not positive.

Perhaps it is saying that not all endings are happy.

I wonder how you feel about that.

Happy or not happy endings.

After telling the story, Pellegrina places Edward in his small bed.

As she does so, she says that she's disappointed in him.

Refer to page 40 now.

Why do you think Pellegrina is disappointed with Edward? Pause the video, refer back to page 40 and share your responses to his question with someone nearby.

I think Pellegrina senses that Edward can hear her.

She whispers to him and makes direct eye contact.

I think Pellegrina could be the witch mentioned in the story.

She's described as having a sharp nose and black eyes.

There's something unusual about her.

I wonder what responses you came up with.

Check for understanding.

Which of the following are unusual traits? So not maybe what you might expect, and behaviours for Pellegrina to show.

Pellegrina stared directly at Edward when the ship left with eyes that glowed.

Pellegrina tucked Edward and Abilene in each night.

Pellegrina whispered to Edward that he disappointed her.

Pellegrina told stories to her granddaughter.

So pause the video while you decide which of these are unusual traits and behaviours for Pellegrina to show.

Well done if you selected statements A and C, which are somewhat unusual traits.

Throughout the text, Edward is given many names, including Susanna, Malone and Jangles.

Why do you think each of his owners named him differently? What do you think the names tell us about their character? Pause the video while you refer to the text and answer these questions.

Here are some responses.

Nellie named Edward Susanna.

Perhaps she's missing her children.

Lawrence mentions Nellie's sadness on page 67.

Sarah Ruth named Edward Jangles.

This makes me think of something musical and full of joy.

Sarah Ruth did not have much of this.

Perhaps she wanted to take her mind off her suffering.

I wonder what name you would've given Edward if he'd come to you.

At the end of the text, Edward is finally reunited with Abilene.

Reread page 205.

Were you expecting Edward and Abilene to meet again? How did you feel when they did? Pause the video as you reread this incredible part of the text and share your responses.

Here's Alex.

"I was really pleased when I realised it was Abilene's daughter.

I hadn't realised so much time had passed.

It really surprised me.

It was a really touching reunion.

It made me very emotional." Yeah, me too, Alex.

I was in tears.

It was such a moving moment.

In this text, a coda is used to summarise the main events of the story and offer understanding and appreciation of the themes.

Refer to the final page 208.

Why do you think Kate DiCAmillo added a coda for this story? Pause the video while you refer to the final page and answer this question.

Here's Jun.

"I think the author wanted the reader to know what happened next.

The coda shows the emotional journey Edward has been on, and I hope this continues as he's looked after by Abilene's family for generations." That's lovely.

That's a lovely answer.

Thank you for sharing that, Jun.

Check for understanding.

True or false? At the end of the text, Edward is looking forward to spending time with Abilene and her daughter.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected true.

Yeah, absolutely.

That is really how he's feeling at the end of the text.

And now I'd like you to justify your answer.

A, Edward had been sat on the shelf in the doll shop for several years.

He is so happy to be reunited with Abilene after all this time.

Or Edward told his heart that it was not possible to love again after so much heartbreak.

Pause the video while you decide which of these answers best justifies your answer.

Well done if you selected A.

This really directly links to your correct answer.

Let's move into our task now.

Each of Edward's owners cares for him in different ways.

They all treat him as a person, someone they can speak to and confide in.

If you were Edward, which owner would you like to stay with and why? Abilene, Nellie and Lawrence, Bull, Bryce, Sarah Ruth, Lucius Clarke.

And you might like to use a sentence starter, such as I would choose or because, and if you'd like a challenge, you could role play if the response is Edward from his perspective.

So pause the video while you decide which owner you'd like to stay with if you were Edward, and if you like role play being Edward and the owner.

Pause the video here.

So I wonder who was it that you wanted to stay with? Let's find out some more responses here.

I would stay with Abilene.

She's clearly very distraught at me falling overboard.

She cared a lot for me and would make sure I was included in everything she did.

I would stay with Bull and Lucy.

I enjoyed my time with them travelling and sleeping under the stars.

I love looking up the constellations.

Lucy seems to be calmer around me.

She rests her head on my stomach.

And now let's look at connections and recommendations.

Connections are ways in which you connect personally with the text.

The way that one reader connects might be different to another based on our own life experiences.

Connections can be from text-to-self, text-to-text or text to the world.

So text-to-self is when the contents of the text relates to personal experiences, feelings or thoughts.

Text-to-text is when the content of the text relates to another text.

It could be something you've seen, read, watched, or heard.

and text to the World is when the content relates to events and issues in the real world.

Connections can also relate to patterns that you spot when reading.

So the connections that I make to the text are to my own toy that I had growing up.

I used to imagine taking it on journeys, and to the text "The Legend of Podkin One-Ear, an illustrated chapter book, which has a rabbit protagonist.

This is in the fantasy quest genre.

What about you? Which connections do you make to a text? And are they text-to-self, text-to-text or text to the world connections? So pause the video and share with someone nearby.

I hope you enjoyed sharing and hearing about connections.

Making connections and recommendations can significantly enhance the reading experience and broaden our understanding of literature.

Here are some recommendations based on the themes, form and connections in "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane." "The one and only Ivan, "Armstrong," "If All the World Were," "The Tale of Despereaux," and "Charlotte's Web." So just pause for a moment and take a look at those covers.

They say so much, don't they? Just the cover and the title.

Let's find out more about these texts.

In this first one, Ivan is kept in captivity.

He rarely dreams of freedom until a baby elephant called Ruby arrives.

In "Despereaux," by the same author, Kate DiCamillo, a tale of an unusual mouse, a princess and dreams of bravery and courage.

"Charlotte's Web," a story of a young girl called Fern, a very lucky pig called Wilbur and Charlotte, the web-spinning spider, an American children's classic.

"Armstrong" is a journey to the moon from a mouse's point of view, a picture book text, celebrating dreams and imagination.

And "If All the World Were" is a deeply moving picture book, exploring grief and loss in a sensitive and heartfelt way.

Which of these texts would you recommend for Laura? So Laura says, "I loved exploring Edward's adventurous journey.

I would like to read more books with a similar theme." Pause the video while you decide which would be a good fit for Laura.

Yeah, well done if you selected "The One and Only Ivan." Why do you think this would make such a good recommendation? Maybe share the answer to that with someone as well.

Well, we know that Laura likes adventurous stories, so I think that's why this could be a really good fit for her.

For your task, I'd like you to research one of the recommended texts and then discuss with your partner, which one would you like to read, and do you have a text that you'd like to recommend and why? So here are those amazing texts once again.

So pause the video now while you research these texts.

Decide which one you'd like to read and do you have any recommendations? Okay, we are back together again.

I wonder which one you chose to research.

Here's Sam.

"I really enjoy exploring picture books and this looks like it mixes elements of nonfiction with fiction." Yeah, really interesting that one.

Yeah.

And how about Lucas? "I liked Kate DiCamillo's writing so much in "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

I'm looking forward to reading another of her texts." Yep, you will not be disappointed, Lucas.

This is a fantastic, fantastic book that you've chosen.

In our lesson today, we've covered the following.

Character traits can be explored through the text's illustrations, or words used by the characters.

In this text, a coda is used to summarise the main events of the story and offer understanding and appreciation of the themes.

Connections are ways in which you might connect personally with a text.

The way that one reader connects might be different to another based on their own life experiences.

Connections can be from text-to-self, text-to-text or text to world.

Making connections and recommendations can significantly enhance the reading experience and broaden the reader's understanding of literature.

Thank you so much, everyone for being together on this miraculous journey of exploring this incredible novel.

I've loved every minute of it and I hope you have enjoyed this lesson too.

I'll see you next time.

Bye for now.