The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

"The Tale of Despereaux" should be a whimsical story of cute animals, bravery, and imagination perfect for children. "Despereaux" seems unable to strike this chord and instead gets weird and disjointed very quickly. The writing itself is mostly solid but for two things which are unforgivably annoying. First is what I call the “Dear reader” trope where comments like “And then, reader…” or “But, reader, he did look,” litter the story. I imagine this is supposed to feel more personal, as though the author is actually telling the story, and while it can work in select circumstances, I find it usually ruins immersion in the story. While “Dear reader” comments tend to come across as condescending, this problem is made even worse here by the forced inclusion of big words. To be clear, I favor large vocabularies, and the inclusion of uncommon words is not necessarily bad, but to use one and then address the reader directly to bring attention to the word, telling them to look it up in a dictionary (because clearly they are too young to know what it means) smacks of the condescension I so hate. The characters in this novel are flat, sticking with their assigned personalities without any development. Despereaux is the exception, though only mildly so. Worse, one particular character begins as a stereotypical bad guy, goes through a minor arc only to end up back where he started for no logical reason except that he is the species the author decided were the villains. The plot is even worse, spending most of its time catching back up to itself. The story is split between three main characters, each of them getting a separate portion, while the fourth section unites them all and resolves the story. The first part sets the story in motion with a focus on Despereaux while parts two and three provide backstory on two other characters. Backstory can be beneficial, but the execution and length of these sections brought the book’s momentum to a grinding halt, so much so that when the final section of the book begins, it cannot build enough momentum to carry the climax. The world of this book is generic at best and is also beset with myriad inconsistencies which degrade the believability of the story’s setting. For example, it takes place in a kingdom where slavery is illegal, but the king has a dungeon with no light where people are sent to die. And the king is supposed to be one of the good guys. There are several other inconsistencies I cannot reference because this is a spoiler free review. Suffice it to say, the world and characters generally do not make much sense which absolutely demolishes the coherence of the story. More than anything else, what ruins this book is the weird thematic elements. The big one is that a mouse falls in love with a human. There is the typical argument that love at first sight is unrealistic and should not be normalized, but beyond this, the very idea is pretty disturbing considering the target age demographic. Albeit nothing comes of this love because “Even in a world as strange as this one, a mouse and a princess cannot marry,” but even entertaining the concept in this roundabout way is a little creepy. And considering this story could easily have happened with the mouse and princess simply being friends, it makes me wonder what message this theme is supposed to be sending. "Despereaux" should have been a fun, whimsical book but a plethora of small and large problems force me to conclude it is not worth reading, especially for the target age range.

I ordered “The Tale of Despereaux.” However, what I received was “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Beware of the sellers under this listing. It’s a great story…if you are able to find an actual copy instead of false advertising.

I read this book to my 4th grade class every year. Every year I find something new or make some new connection that I hadn't seen before. It teaches us that hearts can be broken and not put together quite right (trauma). It teaches us that sometimes there is a reason someone makes bad choices; it doesn't excuse them, but it explains them. It teaches us that forgiveness is a powerful thing that saves the forgiver rather the forgiven. The theme of reluctant hero - no matter how small you are, you can make a difference - is predominant. If you read it when you are younger than 10, then you have to go back and read it as an adult. I highly recommend it! I also am so sad that the movie COMPLETELY swayed from the theme. "It's about a mouse who always wanted to be a knight." - NO, he HAS to be the knight; it's LITERALLY the theme of the book. I wish there was a do-over for the movie, but the book is AMAZING.

Missing the first 65 pages

I read this book dozens of times growing up, and now my son is obsessed with having me read the Tale of Despereaux to him each night. He's only 4, yet he understands some of the themes and asks me questions about what's going on. I love watching him learn!! I'm glad I got such a good copy that will last through his childhood.

I so love this book. It's perfect to read aloud. We had this book years ago, lost it, and had to reorder it for our personal library. One of the best books for it's use of engaging the reader, that is, "...my dear reader". LOVE LOVE LOVE.

This book is for older kids in my opinion. Early teens. Very much able to see the scenes as you read.

I first read the Tale of Despereaux in second grade with my class. I enjoyed it so much that once I found this website, I read it again (ten years later) and I am still in love with the characters and the plot. The story is simply written, which offers ease towards younger readers, and spins a complex tale of heroism and misfits, and one can't help but fall in love with the characters. DiCamillo has truly outdone herself with this book, and I can only vehemently recommend it :)

I received the book in a timely manner. It was an older book, but I knew I was purchasing it used.

I bought this because my son and I had read "Because of Winn Dixie", and loved it. Great for bedtime reading...chapters are not too long, so we can read 2 a night and still get to bed on time. The story is engaging and my son is hooked.

This is an absolute must have for any book lover's library! I read it in a few short hours! I couldn't put it down. My 14 yr. old son read it and concluded with the same opinion.

I read to my kids every night though they are perfectly capable of reading to themselves. It's hard to find a book that appeals to both of them. This book does the job well. I have a boy age 9 and girl age 6 and they are both enthralled with it and eager to find out what happens next. With the short chapters and pictures scattered throughout, it makes it very easy to read a few chapters each night and yet keep us looking forward to the next night's reading. We also picked up this book because of its cover just like a previous reader. Love the look, the feel, the size of this book. It's a pleasure to read and we can't wait to find out how the story ends!