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Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo Quotes

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Famous Kate DiCamillo Quotes

“I was visiting my mother in Florida when the September 11, 2001 attacks happened. I was working on The Tale of Despereaux at that point. I had already gone into writing it with a great deal of trepidation and fear, and then this God-awful thing happens and it was really hard to even get back home to Minneapolis.”

WritingHardHomeHappensMotherDealsGoneHappenedThings HappenTalesAwfulGet BackSeptemberFloridaVisitingSeptember 11Back HomeSeptember 11 2001Already GoneTrepidationMinneapolisDespereaux
Author:Kate DiCamillo
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“So here I am, sending a two-ounce mouse down into a dungeon with a sewing needle to save a human princess, and I don't know how in the world he's going to do it. I have no idea. That was the first time it occurred to me that writing the story was roughly equivalent to Despereaux's descent into the dungeon. I was tremendously aware of that as I was writing. I thought, "I have to be brave or else I'm not going to be able to tell it." But it's the only way that I can write. If I know what's going to happen, I'm not interested in telling the story.”

IfsKnowsWorldWayWritingFirstsHumansI CanTwoIdeasStoriesHappensAbleKnow HowFirst TimeBraveNo IdeaPrincessNot InterestedMiceBe BraveNeedlesHere I AmDescentDungeonsSewingDespereaux
Author:Kate DiCamillo
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“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.”

BeautifulMotherFeltFeetBeatsBraveDisappointmentExcellentDramaticTimingRatsHeadingsLandingFlawlessDespereaux
Book:The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
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“There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman. Such was the fate of Chiaroscuro. His heart was broken. Picking up the spoon and placing it on his head, speaking of revenge, these things helped him to put his heart together again. But it was, alas, put together wrong.”

IfsWayHeartTogetherMeditationFateBrokenReaderRevengeHealAlasCarelessCrookedSpoonsCraftsmanTogether AgainDespereauxChiaroscuro
Book:The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
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“the story is not a pretty one. there is violence in it. And cruelty. But stories that are not pretty have a certain value, too, I suppose. Everything, as you well know (having lived in this world long enough to have figured out a thing or two for yourself), cannont always be sweetness and light.”

KnowsWorldWellsLongTwoEnoughStoriesLightCertainValuesViolenceThis WorldCrueltySweetnessNot PrettyDespereaux
Book:The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
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“Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful. And powerful. And Despereaux's love for the Princess Pea would prove, in time, to be all of these things: powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous.”

Love IsPowerfulWonderfulProveRidiculousPrincessPeasDespereaux
Book:The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
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“There are hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman.”

IfsWayHeartTogetherBrokenReaderHealCarelessCrookedCraftsmanDespereauxChiaroscuro
Book:The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
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