Kate DiCamillo - The Tale of Despereaux (2003)

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I will be brave, thought Despereaux. I will try to be brave like a knight in shining armour. I will be brave for the Princess Pea.

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
He was reading from the beginning so that he could get to the end, where the reader was assured that the knight and the fair maiden lived together happily ever after.

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
There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves is a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman.

Kate DiCamillo
There ain't a body, be it mouse or man, that ain't made better by a little soup.

Kate DiCamillo
The sound of the king's music made Despereaux's soul grow large and light inside of him.

Kate DiCamillo
Reader, do you think it is a terrible thing to hope when there is really no reason to hope at all? Or is it (as the soldier said about happiness) something that you might just as well do, since, in the end, it really makes no difference to anyone but you?

Kate DiCamillo
Everything, as you well know... cannot always be sweetness and light.

Kate DiCamillo
Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.

Kate DiCamillo
Rats have a sense of humor. Rats, in fact think the world is very funny. And they are right, dear reader. They are right.

Kate DiCamillo
No one cared what she wanted. No one had ever cared. And perhaps, worst of all, no one ever would care.

Kate DiCamillo
And hope is like love... a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.

Kate DiCamillo
There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.

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
There ain't no point in making soup unless others eat it. Soup needs another mouth to taste it, another heart to be warmed by it.

Kate DiCamillo
This is a wonderful joke to play upon a prisoner, to promise forgiveness.

Kate DiCamillo
'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
Besides, who ever asked you what you wanted in this world, girl? The answer to that question, reader, as you well know, was absolutely no one.

Kate DiCamillo
The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

Kate DiCamillo
Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.

Kate DiCamillo
This is the danger of loving: No matter how powerful you are, no matter how many kingdoms you rule, you cannot stop those you love from dying.

Kate DiCamillo
Reader, nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name. Nothing.

Kate DiCamillo
At the thought of being eaten by rats, Despereaux forgot about being brave. He forgot about not being a disappointment. He felt himself heading into another faint. But his mother, who had an excellent sense of dramatic timing, beat him to it; she executed a beautiful, flawless swoon, landing right at Despereaux's feet.

Kate DiCamillo
Despereaux did not know it, but he would need, very soon, to be brave himself.

Kate DiCamillo
Fairy tales don't tell you that dragons are real, but that they can be defeated!

Kate DiCamillo
Reader, you may ask this question; in fact, you must ask this question: Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse to fall in love with a beautiful human princess named Pea?
The answer is... yes. Of course, it's ridiculous.
Love is ridiculous.

Kate DiCamillo
Did you think that rats do not have hearts? Wrong. All living things have a heart. And the heart of any living thing can be broken.

Kate DiCamillo
If the rat had not looked over his shoulder, perhaps his heart would not have broken. And it is possible, then, that I would not have a story to tell. But, reader, he did look.

Kate DiCamillo