I think this is the first book I ever cried actual tears at. I've read a bunch and felt sad, or melancholic, but I listened to this on audio book and started crying in the middle of the super market.

This is an accessible modern classic that would be good for any age, but the simplicity of the prose is one of the reason that it's consistently read in schools. But the arc of the story, the mirroring/foreshadowing of the mouse versus the main character is a neat device that exposes readers to irony and it's easy to explore.