Stories bring beauty and light into Despereaux's life, and light is precious because the world is dark. The illustrations fit the mood and tie the story with the more traditional and old-fashioned fairy tales. The scenes with rats might scare the younger children, but I respect DiCamillo's choice to bring forth a lot of heavy themes: parental abandonment, mistreatment, prejudice, forgiveness etc. Tolerance to darkness varies, but its not good for children to grow up in a bubble full of unicorns and rainbows, while adults try to protect them from all evil. Stories help children to understand life from all sides. The overall message in this one is universal: everyone deserves love and to be accepted as who they are.