Orris and Timble
Star Stories
by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Carmen Mok
Candlewick Press, 2026. 76 pages.
Review written April 22, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review
Kate DiCamillo and Carmen Mok’s beginning chapter book series about a rat and an owl who are friends just got even sweeter.
All the books are gentle, recapping the details of the friendship and thinking about action before it happens. All the books have Orris and Timble telling stories to each other in their nightly meetings.
In this one, Timble invites Orris to fly on his back. Orris isn’t even a little bit interested. But little by little, we see that gently change. Until finally, the saying on Orris’s treasured sardine tin again motivates him to action: Make the good and noble choice!!
It’s all so wonderfully done, taking the reader along on the emotional as well as the physical journey. And with simple language for a beginning reader, too!
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/star_stories.html
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