The Tale of Despereaux - Kate diCamillo 
 Rating: 
 (view spoiler)[After Roscuro the rat fell into the Queen's bowl of soup, causing her demise, both rats and soup are outlawed in the Kingdom of Dor. Despereaux Tilling, a small and sickly mouse banished to the dungeons after speaking to humans, overhears Roscuro and Miggery the servant girl plotting to kidnap the Princess Pea. In the end, Roscuro is convinced by the princess Pea to escort her, Miggery and Despereaux out of the inescapable dungeons in exchange for some soup. (hide spoiler)] 
 The narration, with its extensive vocabulary, is my favourite part, especially when the narrator adresses the reader directly to provide an explanation or a reminder. While this novel's message is about forgiveness and redemption, it also contains darker themes (psychological torture, banishment, child abuse, grief, betrayal, mutilation). Despereaux's role in the story is smaller than the title implies and I wasn't impressed by the black and white illustrations. The ending was also a bit anticlimactic. 
 "Love, as we have already discussed, is a powerful, wonderful, ridiculous thing, capable of moving mountains. And spools of thread." 
 - Book the Fourth Recalled to the Light, Chapter Forty-three What Cook was stirring 
 About the movie: 
 Instead of introducing the characters separately, the movie interweaves their stories in a very organic way. The tone is also brighter (no child abuse, no tail being chopped off) and Roscuro is a more deserving character. Soup has a bigger role, with the new characters of Andre the Cook and his magical companion Boldo bringing the rain once they made some, but the spool of red thread lost some of its significance. The jailer also turns out to be Miggery's father. And the soundtrack is great.