I've enjoyed every Kate DiCamillo book I've read and this one is no exception. She is the master of creating an atmosphere and a feeling with timeless settings and whimsical characters. It occurred to me now that Anne Tyler hits me in a similar way--except I have to account for the fact that "Ferris" is a middle grade novel. The feelings are the same though! One thing--and this is probably because I am an older grown-up reading this, but the pattern throughout this book with the vocabulary words and the beloved teacher who drilled them into Ferris and her friend Billy, while very well done and most likely necessary, kind of wore me down. I guess there's a part of me that is stubborn and believes to just put the impossible words in there and the reader will eventually look them up.