The Tale of Despereaux is the story of an unlikely hero, a mouse, who falls in love with a princess and then must save her. It's a triumph of the human spirit, via a mouse.

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

I read my books out loud to myself because of the demands of the story and demands of language.

We must ask ourselves these questions as often as we dare. How will the world change if we do not question it?

A friend of mine said Winn-Dixie is the way that people want the world to be and Tiger Rising is the way that it is.

Pea was aware suddenly of how fragile her heart was, how much darkness was inside it, fighting, always, with the light. She did not like the rat. She would neverlike the rat, but she knew what she must do to save her own heart.

There ain't no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.