The Tale of Despereaux
Ratings122
Average rating3.9
This book was fantastic, at times it had me smiling, but others I was sobbing. Parts of this book were so sad but so good. I would suggest this book for late elementary and early middle schoolers. Especially if they like reading, this is a great book for bookworms.
This sweet middle-grade book about a tiny mouse living in a castle was a great palette cleanser. Children's lit can really have a way of tugging on the heart strings.
I thought this book was very charming and sweet. I was so surprised to see a lot of acrimonious one and two star reviews and they seem to be from kids who did not like this book being required reading for them. Going to try reading it with the kids to see what they think.
I really liked the first half of this book, and I was very excited for the story and guessing what would happen. It was set up nicely with the mouse and rat who were similar but different characters and i was very invested in their stories. I lost a lot of interest during ‘book the third' and wasn't interested in Mig or any of the human characters. I felt like we were told repeatedly how much of a good person Pea was but we never really saw it. Hearing Mig say “Gor” about 2 thousand times was not very enticing but I get that this is a kid's book.
I found it a little disappointing how one-dimensional Roscuro was and he kinda just ended up being generic bad guy with a rushed redemption. I was expecting it to be a bit more nuanced so my expectations fell a little short.
I did enjoy this book though I thought it was cute and I loved the parts focussing on the rodents! There were a lot of really nice quote-able parts of this book and I'll be thinking about it for a while!
This is a lauded book, a Newbery Medal winner, so I was really looking forward to reading it. But while it was fine, I was not nearly as impressed as I was expected to be. I've read a good amount of children's fiction, both as a child and as an adult, and I wasn't particularly captivated by this story. And ultimately, light wins out in the end, but most of the book is very dark and cynical. That's not to say that children need to be shielded from all darkness; I just didn't find the book charming enough to outweigh the more sinister aspects.
i didn't even know this author also wrote because of winn dixie but wow i remember how much better this was than the borrowers back in like 2nd or third grade
A mouse falls in love with a princess...a rat hates living in the darkness of the dungeon and longs to live in the light...a serving girl wants to be a princess...The Tale of Despereaux is rife with impossible-to-resolve conflicts. Only in a fairy tale can a mouse find a way to marry a princess...a rat find a way to live in the light...a homely servant find a way to become a beautiful princess. Though much of the book feels like a fairy tale, the author chooses to go another direction at the end. No one lives a sappy sweet happily-ever-after. Dreams aren't realized in the way one might hope, but instead in the way one needs.
The book is chock full of ponderings about the power of hope, forgiveness, and love, but, again, the author shows how these save one, though not in the way one might expect.
Not so fond of this... maybe it was the reading, the narrator has a very nasal voice and she pronounced the French words wrong and it was really irritating, but... I find Kate DiCamillo's writing a bit hoppy, airy, meanering... she was trying to do a little Edith Nesbit and a little Rudyard Kipling, but didn't quite manage.
Kate DiCamillo has a way of making things fun to read while every word you read can be depressing, hopeful or both at once. I'm always happy reading her books. And although this book depressed me at turns, having someone like my teachers who pointed out every great thing about the writing is great.
Short Review: Very well written, but dark children's book.
My full review on my blog is at http://bookwi.se/despereaux/
I read this to Luke (age 6) over a course of several evenings. He really enjoys being read to and every evening wanted me to read just one more chapter, but I think he, like me, was a little let down by the nearly uneventful denouement. Upon finishing he asked, “Is that the end?” “Yep,” I replied. And no more was said about the matter. Despereaux is a tiny mouse with big ears who takes it upon himself to rescue a princess. But he doesn't feature in the entire tale. It is also the tale of a rat and an abused serving girl. It's well-written but I didn't find it terribly exciting. Last night I checked out the trailer for the upcoming movie based on this book. It looks like much more fun. Not the comment you want to hear about a book.
Yes. Yes, I could easily imagine my father selling me for a tablecloth, a hen, and a handful of cigarettes. To be more accurate it would be a Diet Coke and a pack of cigarette but potayto, potahto.
My Rating System:
5⭐️: Excellent book AND influenced a change in my views
4.5⭐️: Excellent read
4⭐️: Great read, will recommend
3.5⭐️: Enjoyable read but missing something that will make it great
3⭐️: An okay read that I didn't regret spending time on it ⬅️⬅️⬅️
2⭐️: Didn't enjoy
1⭐️: Didn't enjoy and had serious issues. Will suggest to avoid.
I remember my teacher reading this book to my class in elementary school. I loved it so much that when she finished I got the book and read it twice. Its a really big deal to me because I hated reading when I was little.
