Maybe this is a better story to read to children as I found it on the elementary side. There were elements of it that were fun and unique, but that was lost because of the simplistic writing, the flat characters, & the weak plot. Even the "plot twist" at the end was overly clichéd and predictable. Unlike Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux or P.L. Trevor's Mary Poppins, this is not a children's book that I would want to keep & reread.