Orris the rat lives alone in an abandoned barn; he has a cozy nest with a red velvet slipper, a sardine can, and a marble. When a young owl called Timble gets a foot caught in a mousetrap, Orris is afraid to help, but following the wisdom of the sardine can ("Make the good and noble choice!!") and remembering the story of the lion and the mouse, he helps free Timble. Timble, grateful, brings Orris a butterscotch candy, and stays to hear a new story night after night. ( )

First sentence: Orris the rat had made a nest for himself in a hole in the wall and papered it with pages from a box of discarded books. In the rat's nest were his treasures: a red velvet slipper, a yellow marble, and a sardine can. Sometimes if the light shone into the rat's nest at just the right angle, the king on the sardine can looked Orris in the eye.

Premise/plot: Orris and Timble are unlikely friends: one is a rat and the other is an owl. But when Timble (the owl) finds himself TRAPPED in a mouse trap (in the hayloft), Orris faces a hard decision. Should he make a good and noble choice and save the owl??? Or should he leave things well enough alone??? The owl, after all, might eat him anyway after he has been freed. True, it's distressing to hear him screech and cry out, but, is it truly his problem to solve? Maybe. Maybe not.

My thoughts: I love, love, love, love, love, love, love Kate DiCamillo. I do. I expect great things and am rarely disappointed. (Though there are a handful of books that I don't particularly like. But when you consider the vastness of her body of work, then it's clear that she's absolutely fabulous.) I love, love, love the focus on STORYTELLING, the way stories can bring two people together despite the differences in their backgrounds. I enjoyed the characterization and the narrative itself. Beautiful writing. ( )