JuniorBookWorm.com

London Literary Festival

Imagine is a literary festival for children at London's Southbank Centre.
It runs from the 18th-21st February and features some of the Junior Book Worm's favourite authors such as Emma Chichester Clark (the Lily series) and Michael Morpurgo (Kensuke's Kingdom etc). Darren Shan will be there for all those who like his addictive horror stories.

Tale of Despereaux

Kate DiCamillo is best known (at least in the States) for her book Because of Winn Dixie. I don't think she is well known in England, but I want to spread the word. We were just in New York and spent a wonderful time in Borders and Barnes and Noble (and at the Pierpont Morgan Library on 36th Street). My lovely Lakeville librarian had recommended Kate but we never got a chance to read her Newberry Medal winning books, The Tale of Despereaux. So when I saw a rough edged paperback, I grabbed it.
It is about a passionate mouse who lives in a castle and is in love with humans. This is a crime in the normal mouse world. Humans are to be avoided. The punishment is to be thrown in the dungeon and given to the rats. Somehow Despereaux is not eaten but I will ruin it no further.
DiCamillo writes beautifully and vividly. Mice are expertly illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering (who thinks his mother was a mouse in her previous life). It is a love story but since it is between a princess and mouse, the boys will like it just as much.