Things are not at all what they seem to be: oh no, not at all.

The closest I can get to describing what happens is that voices come to me. I feel like I'm accessing something that is deeper and richer than me.

You don't realize what you're going to get, and you can't prepare yourself for it.

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.

Reading might not be the way that the child engages with the world, but it should be something that they all learn how to do, and that they get to have for themselves, as opposed to somebody telling them what to do and how to do it.

She was working to remind herself of who she was. She was working to remember that somewhere in another place entirely she was known and loved.

But still, here are the words Despereaux Tilling spoke to his father. He said, "I forgive you, Pa!" And he said those words because he sensed that it was the only way to save his heart, to stop it from breaking in two. Despereaux, reader, spoke those words to save himself.