Suds Morton took the old schoolroom chant a little bit too seriously - "First grade babies! Second grade cats! Third grade angels! Fourth grade …RATS!" Suds didn't really want to be a rat. But he was now in fourth grade. His friend Joey Peterson, though, was proud of being a rat and was trying hard to get Suds to act like a fourth grade rat, too. Some rules were spelled out. Fourth grade rats aren't afraid of spiders. They never, ever cry. They don't carry lunch buckets with elephant pictures on them. They bring real meat sandwiches for lunch. They eat things they never liked before. They push first graders off the swings. They say no to their moms.

Suds didn't like the rules, especially pushing around first graders and saying no to his mom. But Joey just wouldn't let up. He kept after Suds until Suds actually pushed a couple of first graders off the swings. Suds was pleasantly surprised when a girl he liked started to pay more attention to him when he tried to show he was tough by letting a bee sit on his arm. It was when he said no to his mom, however, that his real troubles began. By the end of the story, the old schoolroom chant gets redefined for both Suds and his friend Joey. There are some funny moments along the way.

Kid's paperback based on a popular animated movie

"The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo was first popular as a book and later made into an animated film. The paperback discussed here is based on the script of the motion picture screenplay and includes pictures from the film. So it is possible some young readers may have read the original book and/or viewed the film version.

The story begins with an unusual rat named Roscuro and his activities on board a large sailing ship. Roscuro is certainly different from other rats. First of all, he speaks like a human and is a favorite of all the sailors on the ship. He is excited because the ship is about to dock in Dor, which he has been told is a magical kingdom. Dor's great claim to fame is its amazing, incredible soup - so delicious that once you have had one spoonful, you will never want any other kind of soup again for the rest of your life. Roscuro can't wait to go ashore and try some of that soup!

Pietro, one of Roscuro's sailor friends, reminds the rat that the ship will not be in the harbor very long. He could be left behind if he gets too far from the dock. It just happened, though, that the two had come ashore on Royal Soup Day, the one day of the year that the King of Dor would make the special soup prepared by Chef Andre available to the people of the kingdom. Roscuro was determined to have some of that soup. He followed his nose and ended up in the king's castle. Climbing up on a chandelier in the castle ballroom, Roscuro ended up right above a large porcelain soup tureen. Just as the queen of Dor was about to taste a spoonful of the soup, Roscuro lost his hold on the chandelier and fell into the soup. The queen is so startled she falls face forward into the tureen and dies. That started a chain of events that makes for a complicated plot for the rest of the story, including a grief-maddened king, a lost princess, and magic kingdom that is plunged into dark despair.

Roscuro barely escapes with his life after falling into the soup. He is chased around the castle until he falls into the rat colony that dwells under the earth. These are real rats - the kind that are vicious and willing to eat anything. It is only at this point in the story that we are introduced to an amazing mouse named Depereaux, who appears to be fearless and wants only to do heroic acts with his needle-sized sword. It takes some time but our little mouse ultimately is responsible for not only saving Roscuro (a good rat), but the Princess of Dor, who has fallen into the hands of the rats (the bad rats). Despereaux, through his bravery, is able to restore order and joy to the Kingdom of Dor.

Japanese-American sisters grow up in Georgia
during the late 1950's

Katie Takeshima's slightly older sister, Lynn, was Katie's closest friend and protector. Lynn always saw the bright side of things. She taught Katie the word kira-kira, which means "glittering" in Japanese, and Katie grew up using the word to describe everything she liked - the sky, puppies, kittens, butterflies, and anything brightly colored.

The girls lived in a small Japanese community in Iowa. Their family lived in a rented house. The parents owned a small Oriental foods grocery store, but business was so slow they had to close. The father's brother worked in a poultry hatchery in Georgia. He talked Katie's family into moving to Georgia, where the father and the mother could get jobs in the poultry industry.

Katie remembered driving through two big cities - St. Louis, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee. It was on this trip south that the Japanese family first experienced racial prejudice. One motel would only rent them an isolated room in the back and, in addition, charged them extra because they were "colored."

The parents did get jobs, but they both had to work long hours to pay rent for a house and meet other expenses. They wanted to save money to eventually buy a home of their own. But soon after moving to Georgia, Lynn started to show symptoms of serious illness and she grew weaker and weaker. Because of medical expenses, the parents had to work more and more hours. At first, it was felt Lynn was just anemic, but, later she was diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the blood. Lynn fought hard to stay alive for her sister and her family, but, after a long illness, she died.

Katie and her family were devastated by the loss of the ever-optimistic Lynn. Katie gathered together all her memories of her sister and tried in her own way to see kira-kira in all the things around her. When the family managed to take a vacation trip to visit relatives in California it looked as if kira-kira might once again come to be a way to view the world.