An Un-Calibrated Centrifuge
The Tale of Despereaux
I'm coming to realize I don't like Kate DiCamillo, and I don't think either of her winning books are Newbery worthy.
The Tale of Despereaux is more derivative than innovative and its reliance on stereotypes/cliches is annoying (rats/dark are bad and mice/light are good was the most prevalent). The tale teller is also way too pedantic for my tastes.
Some of the illustrations are pretty good, but they didn't really add to my experience of reading the book. And the deckle edges on the pages made them difficult to turn (especially at the beginning of the book). So all around this was a frustrating read.
