The Tale of Despereaux

Desperaux Tillings is an unusual mouse — he loves music and stories and, most improbably, a princess named Pea. Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Medal–winning novel is a proper fairy tale, old-fashioned in the best sense: full of dungeons and darkness and the particular courage it takes to be exactly who you are. It's a perfect read aloud from about age seven, one that has made readers of many children I know.