The Tale of Despereaux

DiCamillo, K. (2003). The tale of despereaux. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Read June 1, 2012. A 2004 Newbery Award winner.

Despereaux Tilling is a mouse in love...with a human. This is clearly a violation of the mouse rules set forth my the Most Very Honored Head Mouse, but Despereaux doesn't care. In fact, he's already broken many of the rules like being seen by a human, reading books instead of eating them, being touched by a human, and talking to a human. For his crimes, he is sent to the Dungeon where the rats will rip him apart and eat him. He is scared but trying to be brave for Princess Pea, his fair maiden.

This story is also about Roscuro, who although he is a rat, loves the light. He is strongly discouraged by his rat friend, Boticelli, to not indulge in his need to be near the light, but he cannot resist. In his attempt to see more light, he falls out of the chandelier in the dining room of the castle and accidentally kills the queen. He is forever on a mission to destroy Princess Pea for calling him a rat while wearing a face of utter disgust. He spends his time in the dark dungeon, waiting for the opportunity to see revenge.

Miggery Show, Mig for short, is a simple-minded, ugly girl who has only one desire: to be a princess. When Roscuro hears of this, he is quick to act, promising Mig that if she helps him then she can take the place of Princess Pea. He has Mig pull a knife on the princess and take her to the dungeon with the prisoners, not realizing that she would never be able to take the place of the beautiful princess. The princess, in an act of love and bravery, simply asks Mig what she wants. This is a question that no one has ever asked Mig and she responds by saying that she just wants her mother. The princess feels empathy and the two commiserate together.

Even though the story is not a "happily ever after" ending, there are some wonderful things that happened as a result of some selfless acts. Roscuro was allowed by the princess to visit the light upstairs but he never truly felt like he belonged in either place. Mig didn't become a princess, but she was reunited with her father who treated her like a princess for the rest of her life. Despereaux, although he did not marry the princess, became good friends with her and they had many adventures together.

I chose this high fantasy book because it had been sitting on my classroom's "Award Winning" shelf for years. I had never read it, but decided that I would give it a try. I loved it, of course, and look forward to finally using it in the classroom for something other than a dust collector.

There are many activities that a teacher can do to get a response from readers, but I think there is one thing that would make the most difference in the reader's mind. Although it seems that Despereaux, Roscuro, and Mig are all completely different, they are truly similar in so many ways. If a student thought about this after reading, they could discuss with each other, all the ways the characters are similar and what one thing makes them the most different. It would also be interesting to note whether or not the students enjoyed the way the narrator talked to the reader. To enforce the beliefs of Aidan Chambers, the students could hold discussions on whether they liked it, did not mind it, hated it, find a relation to another book, or practice it in their own writing.