BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Marshmallow has always enjoyed the books of Kate DiCamillo. She has also reviewed a handful of them for the book bunnies blog. (See her posts about Flora and Ulysses, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Magician’s Elephant.) Today she reviews The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by DiCamillo. Originally published in 2003, The Tale of Despereaux won the 2004 Newbery Medal and it was the first book by DiCamillo that the book bunny household read–or more accurately listened to as an audio book.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like cute books that are akin to fairy tales in their rich, classical storytelling, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Despereaux was born to a French mouse whose favorite word was “disappointment.” Along with his family, he lives in the king’s castle in the land of Dor. Unfortunately, he is quite the disappointment both to his mother and the rest of his family. He is extraordinarily, peculiarly small but his ears are extremely large in proportion. On the first day of his life, his family was also shocked by how curious he was; they say he was born with his eyes open. This was just the start of his bizarre behavior–at least in the opinion of the other mice.

Despereaux also lacks the instinctual fear other mice believe is integral to the very essence of being a mouse. He doesn’t scurry, much to their dismay, and doesn’t realize the importance of scavenging for crumbs. Not only that, he does not eat books; he actually reads them. So Despereaux overall is a very big disappointment to his mother, father, and the general mouse community in the castle. They still love him, but they are simultaneously in a state of shock. They are even more shocked when they see him interacting with a human. Specifically, Princess Pea who is the only daughter of the king.

Drawn to her first by music, Despereaux eventually falls in love with the princess (which is definitely a little unusual given their vastly differing sizes). However, his love is true. The rest of the mice community doesn’t appreciate her understanding nature and believe human-mice interactions are a threat to all. They banish Despereaux to the dungeons which are infested with rats. Rats, unlike their more timid mouse counterparts, are violent and dangerous. Suffice it to say, Despereaux finds himself in some hot water.

At the same time, a rat named Roscuro is plotting revenge on Princess Pea. He convinces one of the castle maids–an abused young girl named Miggery Sow or “Mig”–to help him kidnap Princess Pea and promises her Pea’s crown. With Princess Pea in danger, Despereaux takes up the mantle of those he read about in fairy tales and becomes her knight in shining armor. He might be a mouse but his lionhearted fearlessness and unwavering love make him an unstoppable force!

Marshmallow is reading The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. — Marshmallow is reading *The Tale of Despereaux* by Kate DiCamillo.

Marshmallow’s Review: The Tale of Despereaux is a beautiful, adorable book! I love reading DiCamillo’s writing. It is unbelievably comforting and descriptive. Her books, particularly this one, feel like a rich, home-cooked meal. They remind you of the fairy tales we’ve all grown up with but an even more heartwarming version.

I love how adventurous and suspenseful this book is while it maintains its child-friendly style. DiCamillo is a master of prose that balances action with heart and character building. The plot is nicely, neatly wrapped up.

As a whole, The Tale of Despereaux is a very entertaining and moving book that is excellent in a touching yet understated way. I would highly recommend reading it to everyone! The message of strength, love, understanding, forgiveness, and openmindedness is something everyone can appreciate and learn from, regardless of age!

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo 100%. — Marshmallow rates *The Tale of Despereaux* by Kate DiCamillo 100%.

Caramel reviews Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha

Today Caramel is reviewing a beautiful book by Mark Shasha: Night of the Moonjellies, originally published in 1992. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, for your last review before we take some time off for the summer, you chose to talk about this book.

Caramel: Well, you told me that summer officially starts on June 21 this year and told me we should talk about a summer book. I thought this would work well.

S: Yeah, this is a very nice picture book about the summer season.

C: Apparently, it is not even fully fiction! This book is about the author’s life. He is telling us things that have or might have happened when he was a kid.

S: Yeah, it might be a bit nostalgic then. Do you know what nostalgic means?

C: Yeah, it means a thing that evokes a sense of remembering a good thing?

S: Yeah, there is a feeling of sadness, about missing the past. The book is about a time that the author experienced as a child. So it is something he remembers fondly, from his past.

C: That makes sense. The book is about his family when he was growing up in Connecticut. His grandma, his uncle, his aunt, all his family are running a hot dog stand together, and he finds a moon jellyfish on the beach, and his grandma tells him to put it in a bag with water, so it doesn’t die. And then he tells us about his day. They make food for customers, and it is really busy.

S: And the boy is always helping out and kind of cheerful, right?

C: Yeah, he seems like a nice kid. And he seems like he really enjoys working together with his family and helping them out. All of them know what they need to do and they do it.

Caramel is reading Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha. — Caramel is reading *Night of the Moonjellies* by Mark Shasha.

S: Cool! But the book is titled “Night of the Moonjellies” so eventually we should get to the night, right?

C: Yeah, at night his grandma takes him on a kind fisherman’s boat, and they release the moon jellyfish, and they see the ocean glow from the jellies; they make the night sea sparkle and look so pretty.

S: Yes! I think that how the jellies came together to make the ocean so pretty is kind of like how the boy and his family worked all day together in harmony to make something good happen.

C: Yeah. I didn’t think of that, but it makes sense.

S: Kind of like, my family and I, together we make something neat, and the jellies, they make something neat with their families, too.

C: Yeah, I can see that. But I think even without making a connection like that, I am sure the sea must have looked awesome!

S: Yeah, one would probably not forget such a sight.

C: Yeah, if I saw such a thing, it would be so cool! I’d definitely remember it forever, too.

S: Do you remember something like that? Have you ever seen something in nature that awed you? That moved you so deeply?

C: No, I don’t think so, but it would have been cool.

S: Actually I remember you seeing something and being that awed. Some years ago, we were in Japan. We were so lucky to be there during the cherry blossom season. And you were a tiny little bunny, but your awe, your thrill, your joy were all so visible.

C: Oh, wait, I do remember that, how did I not remember that?

S: Well, maybe you were trying to think of experiences on the ocean. Or anything during the summer. The cherry blossoms were very much in the spring. And they were so beautiful! You definitely remember them now, right?

C: Yep. That’s why I think I didn’t come up with it immediately. But yeah, the cherry blossoms were so beautiful..

S: We don’t get to have too many such experiences. Sometimes beautiful things just happen and we don’t see them. We are too busy, too distracted. But when they do happen and you witness them, it is important to take note. I hope you will always remember the cherry blossoms.

C: Yeah, I will try. I’ll try to never forget.

S: Okay, Caramel, so do you think this is a good time to wrap up our review?

C: Sure.

S: So what do you want to say to our readers then?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha and is totally ready for the summer! — Caramel enjoyed reading *Night of the Moonjellies* by Mark Shasha and is totally ready for the summer!

Marshmallow reviews Almost Identical by Lin Oliver

Today Marshmallow reviews Almost Identical, the 2012 book by Lin Oliver that starts the eponymous four-book series. This book series was recommended to the book bunnies by a reader of the blog: thank you, you-know-who-you-are!

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like sweet stories that surprise you with their depth and potential significance to your own life, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Sammie and Charlie Diamond are identical twins. Though their names might not sound like it, they are both twelve year old girls (twelve years and three quarters to be exact!) Being identical twins, they’ve done everything together since birth. They are extremely good tennis players and compete constantly in doubles leagues. This is mostly due to their father’s desire to live somewhat vicariously through their success. He was set to become a professional player but was injured in a game and had to have a career-ending surgery. Now, he works as the athletic director at the Sporty Forty beach club in Santa Monica teaching tennis and supervising things in general.

Luckily, the family and GoGo (the girls’ grandmother) are allowed to live in the old caretaker’s beautiful bungalow for free by the beach. Unluckily, Sammie and Charlie’s mother is off in Boston at culinary school so she can start up a restaurant when she comes back. That means Sammie and Charlie are on their own to deal with their annoying older brother Ryan. They have plenty to worry about besides him though. Moving from Culver City Middle School to the more affluent Beachside Middle School is a bit of a jarring change.

One girl in particular–Lauren Wadsworth–is so rich and famous and smart and beautiful (allegedly) that they had heard about her before moving. The cool kids / jocks call themselves the SF2s because they are the second generation of the owners of the Sporty Forty (which is owned by several very wealthy families). Sammie and Charlie meet Lauren before school starts though as she is hosting her birthday party at the club; because she has a crush on Ryan, Lauren eventually invites all three of the Diamond children to the event.

This is the start of the end for Sammie. Before all of this, she was already being essentially attacked by her father and brother for being ‘too heavy.’ At the party, she is reminded yet again that she does not fit in as well as Charlie. Charlie is desperate to get in with the in-group and she does well, especially since Lauren can’t wait to get closer to the Diamond family (though she is mostly interested in a specific annoying eighth grade boy…cough, cough, Ryan).

Basically, Charlie fits in. Sammie, on the other hand, does not. She is uncomfortable around the girls and feels like she has to constantly be putting on a fake performance to hang around them. When she leaves to play Frisbee with the boys on the beach, she is quickly told that Charlie is “the hot version of you.” This feeling of growing alienation between Sammie and the SF2s and Charlie remains long after the party is over. Sammie feels most comfortable with the ‘weird’er kids, like Alicia whom she meets at the party. After immigrating from El Salvador at the age of three, Alicia’s family is integrated into the club in a different way from most of the party guests. Her mother works essentially as a maid while her father is the groundskeeper. She is similarly an outsider and the two girls click.

The only thing is that Sammie and Charlie no longer do. Like it says on the book’s cover, they are “growing up and growing apart.” Charlie is doing pretty well for herself in the cliquey SF2 group while Sammie is starting to embrace her more authentic, unique identity at a school club called the Truth Tellers (where students practice and perform stand-up speaking intended to reveal personal stories to the audience in a meaningful way). The two girls were always “two halves of a circle” but change is the only constant. Within three weeks, Sammie and Charlie slowly realize that they are more different than they thought; with new, growing identities, they are no longer almost identical.

Marshmallow is reading Almost Identical by Lin Oliver. — Marshmallow is reading *Almost Identical* by Lin Oliver.

Marshmallow’s Review: Almost Identical is so very well done! I think the author deserves a round of applause for handling a relatively overused trope with new nuance and depth. This was the first time I read a book about siblings or best friends growing apart in different directions and I felt like it was truly a detailed account of the storyline. Oftentimes, pre-teen books or teen books about growing up and change in middle school have to resort to the typical Mean Girls level of characterizing certain cliques. This book did also have the SF2s, which are somewhat similar. However, it felt a lot more realistic and less cartoonish. I really liked the Mean Girls movie, but Oliver’s novel is a lot more grounded in reality and speaks more to the true middle school experience than most other, more exaggerated accounts do.

Sammie is a very impressive young girl and seeing things from her lens is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. She definitely suffers a lot from body shaming as her father is determined to make her into the best possible tennis player. He believes she is too heavy and that her weight is slowing her down, despite the fact that she is not really overweight in the first place. Her brother joins in unhelpfully in the worst possible situations and his girlfriend-to-be a.k.a. Lauren soon follows suit. Within the first chapter, you develop a deep sympathy for Sammie and she is a very likeable protagonist.

I think the author was very smart to start the book the way she did as it curries favor with the reader to like Sammie almost instantly. This book–as it is told by her–portrays Sammie as the morally correct, wiser of the twins. However, Charlie’s growth is also portrayed in a relatively nonjudgmental light at the end. I really liked how the rapidly expanding rift between them is eventually accepted as separate paths that will define them as different people. This was handled in a very soft, beautiful way.

I feel like this story of struggling, navigating, and then willing letting yourself be taken by change is relevant to more than just middle schoolers. As a high schooler realizing that things are changing and will continue to change a lot more, I found this story very comforting. It gave me a sense of clarity that, despite continual change and occasional chaos, impermanence can lead to new places, perspectives, and people you had never considered before. That is a lesson I think we can all benefit from.

Given its accessible and entertaining prose, I think Almost Identical is a very sweet story that would be amazing for all bunnies. Of course, it is most important for pre-teens and teens to read about situations that most closely align with their own experiences. But adults shouldn’t scoff at the idea of reading this book either! Caramel and I aren’t twins, but I hope he reads this book too. Change is an undeniable, unyielding force in our universe, and reading these seemingly small works of human art can serve as a tether to what grounds us as the world seems to transform around us.

I would like to especially thank the reader who recommended that we read this book! Even though the author finishes this book in a satisfying manner, I look forward to reading the next book of this series!

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Almost Identical by Lin Oliver 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Almost Identical* by Lin Oliver 100%.

Caramel reviews The Future Book by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris

Today Caramel is reviewing a brand new picture book: The Future Book written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Shawn Harris, and published in 2026. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, we are talking about a brand new picture book today, right?

Caramel: Yep. It is called The Future Book and it comes from the future!

S: What does that mean?

C: I don’t exactly know. But it claims that it knows what is going to happen in the future. And a bunch of weird stuff will happen apparently.

S: Okay, that sounds weird.

C: It is. But apparently the future will be pretty weird. For example people will put a fish on people’s heads instead of thanking them. And bananas will b e called apples and there will not be any more apples left so they won’t be called anything.

S: Oh, that would be sad. You love apples!

C: Yeah, I really like apples. So I hope the book is wrong and there will always be apples.

S: But if bananas will be the new apples, there will still be apples!

C: Sure, I guess you could say that. But I would still miss the round juicy red fruits…

S: I know, right? Anyways, so the book is basically saying a bunch of really wacky things will happen in the future, right?

C: Yeah, it is quite funny.

S: I did read it once too, and you are right it is quite funny. In a very absurd way.

Caramel is reading The Future Book by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris. — Caramel is reading *The Future Book* by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris.

S: Honestly, this book reminded me a bit of The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak.

C: I can see what you mean. That book is also pretty wacky. And it is a lot of fun to read out loud. Or at least to have your adult read it out loud to you so they have to say all kinds of silly things.

S: Yes! How about this one? Do you think it could be fun to read out loud?

C: Sure. It could be more fun to be read to though. I always like it when you read to me. And this could be fun if you read it to me.

S: Okay, maybe we should read it together after we are done with this review.

C: I could like that.

S: Okay, what else can you tell me about the book?

C: It is very colorful. And the drawings look like they were done by water coloring or something. I mean, there are not many black lines that make the boundaries of things. And there are a lot of speech bubbles. A lot of the book is people speaking, like how people in the future will speak, apparently. It is quite silly.

S: But in a fun way?

C: Yes, definitely. Silly in a fun way. And the sleeve of the book is also covered with silly writing which is supposed to be like what a future supermarket brochure would be like, using all the weird future words!

S: Yeah, you are right. That is very funny too. Okay, so do you think this is a reasonable time to wrap up this review?

C: Sure, why not? And you said you would read the book out loud to me after we’re done.

S: Yes, I will.

C: Okay, so let us wrap things up.

S: Okay, so what do you want to tell our readers Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading The Future Book by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris and is curious to see if the future will really turn out so wacky. — Caramel enjoyed reading *The Future Book* by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris and is curious to see if the future will really turn out so wacky.