Every well-written book is a light for me. When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the wilderness.

— Kate DiCamillo

Gloria put a bowl of stew in Peter's hands. "Eat," she said. Peter raised the spoon to his lips. He chewed. He swallowed. It had been a long time since he had eaten anything besides tiny fish and old bread. And so when Peter had his first bite of stew, it overwhelmed him. The warmth of it, the richness of it, knocked him backward; it was as if a gentle hand had pushed him when he was not expecting it. Everything he had lost came flooding back: the garden, his father, his mother, his sister, the promises that he had made and could not keep." What's this?" said Gloria Patience. "The boy is crying."" Shhh," said Leo. He put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Shhh. Don't worry, Peter. Everything will be good. All will be well. We will do together whatever it is that needs to be done. But for now, you must eat." Peter nodded. He raised his spoon. Again he chewed and swallowed, and again he was overcome. He could not help it. He could not stop the tears; they flowed down his cheeks and into the bowl. "It is a very good stew, Madam Patience. He managed to say. "Truly, it is an excellent stew.

— Kate DiCamillo

He felt a wonderful certainty. The impossible, he thought, the impossible is about to happen again.

— Kate DiCamillo

He knew how to construct a song out of the nothing of day-to-day life and how to sing that nothing into a song so beautiful that it could sustain the vision of a whole and better world.

— Kate DiCamillo

He said, 'I forgive you, Pa." And he said those words because he sensed that it was the only way to save his own heart, to stop it from breaking in two. Devereaux, reader, spoke those words to save himself.

— Kate DiCamillo

He was agitated for some reason that he could not name. (page 35)

— Kate DiCamillo

He was a squirrel. Could he be a superhero, too?

— Kate DiCamillo

He would write and write. He would make wonderful things happen. Some of it would be true. All of it would be true. Most of it would be true.

— Kate DiCamillo

If the wishes came true, they came true in terrible ways. Wishes were dangerous things. That was the idea you got from fairy tales.

— Kate DiCamillo

If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.

— Kate DiCamillo