The Tale of Despereaux

by Kate DiCamillo

reviewed by Anthony Chan

Fall 2016

REVIEW: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

ISBN#: 9780439701679

THE STORY:

A mouse, a princess, a rat, and a servant girl living in a castle from the medieval times in the nineteenth century. All of them are tied together by fate and destined to meet each other. Despereaux, the mouse, was born the same day Chiaroscuro, the rat, first stepped into the light upstairs. Roscuro, shortened name of Chiaroscuro, caused the death of the princess’s mother by falling into her bowl of soup after he heard the princess call her a rat as he was swinging on the chandelier. His first experience upstairs led him to a broken
heart and hatred towards the princess, who called him with a word he suddenly found distasteful like an insult, and that hatred will forge a plan of evil against the princess to keep her light down in the dark dungeon where he lived. Within that plan, the servant girl, Miggery Sow, would be tricked into making the plan work, for she was not the sharpest blade in the kitchen and would do anything to have her long wanted dream of becoming a princess to be true. Despereaux, as small as he is, might be the only hope to rescue the princess, just like the knights in the stories Despereaux has read. In order to win this war with the characters against their past, Despereaux will have to survive being thrown in the dungeon from the hands of the rats, who are known for their cruelty, and go through the dungeon tunnels to find the imprisoned princess. If he succeeds, the Roscuro’s heart would be mended, the princess would be saved, Miggery Sow would get her lifelong dream be granted, and Despereaux’s happily ever after ending from the stories he read would become reality. (290)

MY OPINION:

My first impression on this book was about the book came from the movie, which I watched first. The movie was good, but it wasn’t an exact plot of the story. Reading the original plot was definitely better than the movie. When I read the first few paragraphs, the book seemed to be a long fairytale. It contained a good mix of fantasy and reality. A downside of the book is that the context of the book has many flashbacks and only about half of the story is telling what is happening at the moment. This book was also focused on the details describing the character’s past, but not much on the main character, Despereaux. The book does not use a lot of complex vocabulary, but here and there, an interesting word would appear in the context of the book. The vocabulary selection tells me that it was written to appeal to readers in middle school and the higher grades in elementary school. Analyzing the book for conflicts, resolutions, and other terms is easy to go over, with a little help from the teachers. The main conflict for this book was usually a person with his past. Overall, I would rate six out of ten stars for this book, so I might read it again someday if I get bored. (220)

STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:

FIRST SECTION

1. Which point of view is the story in?

1a. It was written in second point of view where the author calls the reader, “Reader”. (pg. 15)

2. How is the main character, Despereaux born? Explain the environment, any siblings?

2a. Despereaux was the only that survived in his litter, and he will be the last mouse his mother would have. (pg. 11 & 13)

3. How is the main character different when he was born?

3a. Despereaux’s ears were too big, his eyes were open at birth, which was abnormal, and he was smiling at the sights he saw. (pg 13)

4. Why was Despereaux sitting at the King’s right foot?

4a. He wanted to hear more music from the King’s guitar and wandered to the King as he listened and forgot his fear. (pg 29)

5. Who delivered Despereaux to the dungeon?

5a. Two mice in black hoods escorted Despereaux to the dungeon, one of them was Furlough, Despereaux’s brother. (pg 62, 63, & 68)

obscenely (pg 17)

adhere (pg 27)

tribunal (pg 35)

perfidy (pg 45)

defiance (pg 56)

MIDDLE SECTION

6. Why was Despereaux the first mouse to be saved by Gregory from the rats and the dungeon?

6a. Despereaux can tell stories to Gregory and according to Gregory, stories are light to the soul, especially in a dark dungeon.

7. Why is Chiaroscuro(Roscuro) unique?

7a. Roscuro is attracted to light, unlike other rats, who detest it. His name also means an arrangement of light and dark. (pg 95)

8. How are Despereaux and Chiaroscuro related?

8a. Despereaux is destined to meet Roscuro. Despereaux’s birth also coincided with the time when Roscuro first stepped into the light. (pg 103)

9. Do Miggery Sow’s ears affect her hearing? Explain what they look like and how she got them.

9a. Miggery Sow’s ears look like cauliflowers because she received many clouts on both of them from her uncle. They make it hard for her to hear. (pg 129 & 130)

10. Why was Roscuro able to talk to Mig without a problem?

10a. His voice was pitched perfectly for his words to work its way to Mig’s ears.(pg 167)

chiaroscuro (pg85)

astute (pg 99)

palate (pg 110)

clout (pg 129)

diabolical (pg 171)

                               

LAST SECTION

11. What was Roscuro’s real plan for the princess?

11a. Roscuro’s real plan was to have Mig put chains on the princess’s hands and feet and keep the princess in the deepest, darkest part of the dungeon forever. (pg 187)

12. Why did Miggery Sow believe in Roscuro’s plan?

12a. His disguised plan that was revealed to her fulfilled her most desperate and terrible wanting to be a princess. The thought of her becoming a princess led her to believe in Roscuro and his plan. (pg 187)

13. What was significant about the thread that was around Despereaux’s neck?

13a. The thread around Despereaux’s neck was previously tied to lead him to the dungeon. Now that it was cut, it meant that Despereaux was going back to the dungeon by his own free will, not by some order by the mouse council. (pg 221)

14. Why did Despereaux decide to follow Botticelli, a rat, and take his promise that he will lead Despereaux to the princess?

14a. A rat’s promise was worth nothing, but in the dungeon, Despereaux had nothing else to hold onto nor anyone to trust, so he had to follow Botticelli, a rat. (pg245)

15. How was Roscuro convinced to bring the princess and Mig out of the dungeon?

15a. When Roscuro approached Despereaux, he smelled soup on Despereaux, which led to Roscuro remembering his memory of light upstairs. With the memory, he was convinced to bring them upstairs in exchange for soup in the banquet hall.

pondering (pg 180)

comeuppance (pg 186)

dappled (pg 197)

telltale (pg 205)

thwarted (pg 244)