The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, Vocabulary List Chapters 16-18

very alert and aware : CLEVER

"Allow me to congratulate you on your very astute powers of observation."

very bad : deserving to be despised

"They are despicable, laughable, the opposite of everything we strive to be."

land under the control of a ruler or a government

"Upstairs is the domain of mice."

to make (something) certain

And the presence of evil guarantees the existence of prisoners.

impossible to explain or account for

His rat soul longed inexplicably for it.

going beyond what is usual, normal, or proper

From that moment forward, Roscuro showed an abnormal, inordinate interest in illumination of all sorts.

to provide (someone or something) with (something)

Reducing a prisoner to weeping and wailing and begging is a delightful way to invest your existence with meaning.

a state in which someone thinks about someone or something constantly or frequently especially in a way that is not normal

Your obsession with it is tiresome.

something foretold : PREDICTION

In the case of Chiaroscuro, however the joke had a hint of prophecy to it.

to repeat from memory

Botticelli Remorso, one last Sunday afternoon, had recited from memory all the confessions he had heard from prisoners.

a thought or attitude influenced by feeling

He finally voiced this sentiment to his friend, a very old one-eared rat named Botticelli Remorso.

comfort in times of sorrow or worry

"What about the solace a sympathetic ear can provide?"

to try very hard

"They are despicable, laughable, the opposite of everything we strive to be."

to cause severe suffering of body or mind to

Roscuro went, as Botticelli told him he must, to torment the new prisoner and to take the red cloth from him.