Kate DiCamillo - Word Quotes

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'Farewell' is not the word that you would like to hear from your mother as you are being led to the dungeon by two oversize mice in black hoods. Words that you would like to hear are 'Take me instead. I will go to the dungeon in my son's place.' There is a great deal of comfort in those words.

Kate DiCamillo
And so he was reading the story as if it were a spell and the words of it, spoken aloud, could make magic happen.

Kate DiCamillo
Poetry. He liked the word — its smallness, its density, the way it rose up at the end as if it had wings.

Kate DiCamillo
Say it, reader. Say the word "quest" out loud. It is an extraordinary word, isn't it? So small and yet so full of wonder, so full of hope.

Kate DiCamillo
At least Lester had the decency to weep at his act of perfidy. Reader, do you know what 'perfidy' means? I have a feeling you do, based on the scene that unfolded here. But you should look up the word in your dictionary, just to be sure.

Kate DiCamillo
It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak the words that matter.

Kate DiCamillo
But, reader, there is no comfort in the word "farewell," even if you say it in French. "Farewell" is a word that, in any language, is full of sorrow. It is a word that promises absolutely nothing.

Kate DiCamillo
Despereaux looked down at the book, and something remarkable happened. The marks on the pages, the "squiggles" as Merlot referred to them, arranged themselves into shapes. The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time

Kate DiCamillo