When you ask my Perfect Non-Reader what she prefers in a book, she no longer immediately lists plot attributes (magic, mystery and adventure), nor does she first set out the necessity of having characters with which she can identify or at least sympathize, nor does she even begin with practical considerations, such as a book she can read in an hour or a book she can easily carry in her backpack. No, her first response to that question, as of this writing, is stylistic: She prefers books where the author/narrator directly addresses the reader. I attribute this primarily to her obsession with the works of Pseudonymous Bosch, but she has certainly found that trick in many of her favorite books. That is what disposed her to like The Tale of Despereaux, I think, and quite likely it is what disposed YHB to like it, as well.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.