Review: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Hello fellow Bri's Bookers!

This week I am reviewing The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I would give this book a 5/5 stars and would recommend it to elementary and middle school children. As the book says it is "the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread".

It is a children's story and was awarded the John Newberry Medal. It is a quick and easy read with easy vocabulary and an interesting plot. There are several lessons to be learned throughout the book and it is written in a very creative style as DiCamillo makes use of authorial intrusion (when the author speaks directly to the reader). This is something that I found interesting because I have actually never seen it done before. However, I think it added to the overall effectiveness of the book.

The story centers on an unusal mouse, Despereaux. He is considered an oddity by his family and is viewed by all who know him as strange. He doesn't follow the normal mouse rules and one day he breaks the most essential rule: he allows a human to see him. He then gets sent to the dungeon. What ensues next is an adventure filled with lessons about bravery, friendship, staying true to yourself, and forgiveness.

One website that can be used for reference while reading this is Shmoop. They have a chapter by chapter breakdown and give the major themes that are in the book as well as a character list with descirptions, analysis, and quotes. It is a website that I have used in the past and one that I recommend.

The movie was pretty good. However, I do not think that the movie was nearly as good as the book. There were a lot of differences and a lot of things that happened in the book were not in the movie and vice versa. To put it simply, the movie just did not have the same magic that the book did in my opinion.

Below is the trailer for the movie if you are interested.

Watch my review on YouTube!