Our first intro to Kate DiCamillo was through Mercy Watson, the pig (for younger readers). From there we went to 'The Miraculous Adventures of Edward Tulane' which is more on the level of Desperaux and equally wonderful. We bought 'The Tale of Desperaux on CD and love it. I believe it's word for word and this gently dark humour has us laughing out loud. We're listening to it for the 4th time. My son loves it. He was 8 when we first listened to it and we all still enjoy it. Kate DiCamillo's writing inspires so many emotions. She does a wonderful job of incorporating some of the harsher realities of life, but keeping it appropriate for younger kids and she mixes it well with intelligent, captivating story telling. For me, her style is a good mix of the real and the romantic without being saccharin or condescending. I'll buy anything she writes!