THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX by Kate DiCamillo

This blog was done for a course at TWU.

Bibliography
DiCamillo, Kate. 2006. The Tale of Despereaux. Ill by Timothy Basil Ering. New York: Scholastic Inc.

Summary
The Tale of Despereaux is the story of a mouse that is tinnier than most. He is not like most mice; instead of eating books he likes to read them, he is not good at scurrying, his brothers and sisters finally give up on teaching him the ways of a mouse. The rest of the mouse community makes fun of him. Despereaux lives in a castle and one day found himself drawn to the sound of music. He found himself in the room of the princess and at the feet of the king. The king does not like seeing a mouse. His wife died after a rat, Roscuro, fell into her soup and he despises all mice and rats and even outlawed soup. Despereaux falls in love with the princess and tells her not to cry. He just broke one of the major rules for mice, don't speak to humans. The mice community finds out that Despereaux spoke to the princess and he is sentenced to the dungeon to be eaten by the rats. Roscuro the rat wants to get back at the king for banishing soup which is one of his favorite things, that is why he fell into the queen's soup. A new girl, Miggery Sow, starts bringing down food to the dungeon keeper. Roscuro talks to her and finds out that she wants to become a princess. He comes up with a plan to kidnap the princess and put Miggery in her place. This is what he tells Miggory but he really plans to keep them both in the dungeon. Despereaux over hears this and sneaks back into the castle on the empty tray. Roscuro and Miggery succeed in getting the princess to the dungeon. Desperaux comes to save the princess. All of the characters end up living happily ever after.

Analysis
DiCamillo does a wonderful job of making us see all of the characters like people. Even though some of the characters are mice and rats you think of them as people and not rodents throughout the story. The is established early on in the book when Despereaux's mom asks "Where are my babies?" This helps to establish a human quality about the mice. You would not normally think of mice as caring about where their babies are. I like the mix of having the people and the animals understand each other. I like the fact that in the end if the book DiCamillo talks about how Despereaux and the princess do not marry but do become friends. She says that, "Even in a world as strange as this one, a mouse and a princess cannot marry." With this DiCamillio states that the world that book is set in a strange place but that there are still certain rules that cannot be broken.

The plot of the story coincides with that of many traditional fairy tales. There is a king, queen and princess. There is good versus evil. This is shown with the difference between Roscuro and Despereaux. Roscuro tries to do his evil by taking the princess and Despereaux turns into the hero by saving her. Roscuro also tricks Miggery Sow into helping him with the promise that she can become a princess. It also concludes with the fact that they lived happily ever after.

The majority of the book is set in a castle. While there is not a definite description of the castle you still get a feel for it. You know that dungeon is a dark, dirty and scary place. Having Roscuro describe the castle and the dungeon with the difference of light and dark helps to portray the two settings well. You also know that banquet hall was a grand place. It is described as having "a most beautiful chandelier." The banquet room is also described as having, "so much laughing and singing and juggling." I really think that the difference descriptions between the dungeon and castle help to set the tone for two places.

I love the theme that little people can do big things. Or even if things seem a lot bigger than you, you can still accomplish so much. I think this is really important for young students to hear. If they hear the story of how a small mouse, even small by mouse standards, can rescue a princess and a servant in a maze of a dungeon full of rats then anything is possible! It helps to boost their self confidence just by hearing about somebody else that does great things through unbelievable odds.

I like the way that DiCamilio breaks the book up into four different books. It helps you to get invested into each character and goes more in depth about the story of each character. The first book is about Despereaux and follows him from birth to the time he is sent to the dungeon. The second book is about Chiaroscuro the rat. Instead of just talking about a rat that fell in the queen's soup you get to understand a little about him and why he did it. He just wanted some light. He loved soup and he loved the light of the castle and the light from the chandelier. Now instead of thinking he is just a dirty rat you know that he fell into the soup because he had such a strong longing for soup. The third book is about Miggery Sow. You get to see the story behind the servant girl at the castle. You get to see how she was sold by her dad and beaten by her owner. You understand why she would listen to the rat because after the way she was treated she really did want to be a princess. Without this back ground information you would not feel sorry or have understanding for Miggery Sow. The last book brings everyone back together for the end of the story. With the separation of books you have a better understand of each character and somewhat of an understanding of their actions.

The characters in the book had traditional gender roles. There was a king, queen and princess. The "villain", Roscuro, was male as well as the "hero", Despereaux. The traditional gender roles go even farther. The servant, Miggory, is a girl. The dungeon keeper was male. Even the mice show what we would consider as traditional roles. The mouse council was made up of all men. I think that this helps us to see the animal characters as real people and not mice.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal review - "With memorable characters, brief chapters, and inventive plot twists, this fast-paced romp is perfect for reading alone or sharing aloud."



Horn Book Magazine review - "Framing the book with the conventions of a Victorian novel ("Reader, do you believe that there is such a thing as happily ever after?"), DiCamillo tells an engaging tale."

Connections
I would like to use this book to help show my students that eve if you are little and the odds seem against you, you can still prevail. It brings to mind the two movies. One would be An American Tail and the other would be Rudy. Rudy is rated PG and would be shown to older students. I think it would get their attention and help to reinforce the theme from the story that even if your small you can do anything! I did not realize the The Tale if Despereaux was made into a movie into 2008. It might be a good idea to show that one so that the students can see how a book can become a movie. I think seeing the story in two different mediums is a great.